


Soul Eater: Zexal!

by CityEscape4



Series: Zexal Month 2019 [4]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Crona (Soul Eater), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Soul Eater AU, Zexal Month, human!Astral
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2020-07-08 09:17:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19867183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CityEscape4/pseuds/CityEscape4
Summary: Its a new year at the DWMA, and that means fresh new faces for the academy! Following in his parents' footsteps, Yuma Tsukumo joins the school for fun, adventure, and long lasting friendships.





	1. Welcome to the DWMA!

**Author's Note:**

> For Zexal Month day 15: Crossovers! This was originally going to be a really long one-shot, but I decided to cut it down into a few chapters! I'm not good with a set release schedule, so expect updates randomly.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon arriving at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, the new students begin their first day by finding their partners for their next years while at school.

The sun was laughing high in the cloudless sky, looking down over the Death Weapon Meister Academy as new students began to gather at the entrance of the school, each separated into one of two groups: Meisters, or Weapons.

The students were all chattering amongst themselves, and only quieted down as Lord Death made himself known, towering above the crowd of children as he spoke in a playful tone. "Why yes, hi, howdy, hello! What's up, kiddos?"

There were scattered greetings returned to Lord Death, though most people were silent, not having expected the Lord of Death to greet them in such a... playful way.

"It's great to see a bunch of fresh new faces for the academy!" Lord Death continued, gesturing to the crowd of students with a large, oversized, gloved hand. "Now before we get right down to business and head inside, there's the matter of matching you kiddos up with a partner! So take this time to get to know your future classmates, and find yourself a suitable partner!"

* * *

Ryoga and Rio Kamishiro stood somewhat away from the large group, Ryoga folding his arms as he watched the other students mingle with one another. "This is stupid, Rio." He said, leaning against a pillar. "There's no point in me talking with any of these other people when I know exactly how this is going to turn out."

"Oh?" Rio asked, brushing some dust off of her skirt. "And how, exactly, do you expect this to turn out?"

"We're just going to end up together, as always." Ryoga bemoaned, "You can go see if you can find someone, but I'm just going to wait here for you to come back."

Rio gave a 'hmph!' and turned on her heel, intent on finding herself a Meister to prove her brother wrong.

As she made her way into the group of students, there were many boys and several girls eyeing her up and down, until a boy came up and began talking to her. "Hey there, pretty thing. You wouldn't happen to be looking for a Meister, would ya?"

Internally, Rio rolled her eyes, but on the outside she simply smiled. "Yes, I am." This garnered the attention of several more meisters around her, as rhe boy who spoke stepped forward.

"Well look no further, you've found your Meister!" He pointed to himself with a thumb, giving Rio a cocky grin. "Why don't you show me your weapon form and I'll show you just how compatible we could be."

Rio's smile became much more forced at that, but she shifted into her weapon form nonetheless, an ice blue shortsword, cold to the touch. She found herself on the ground in a clatter, as the boy struggled to pick her up off the ground. 

"Augh, whats with you? Why are you so heavy?!"

"I'm not heavy," Rio countered, her voice emanating from the sword, "My brother can wield me just fine. You're just not as compatible as you thought, now are you?"

With a growl, the boy stopped trying to raise her, as another student tried to do the same and failed just as pathetically. This went on for quite a bit, before a young woman was able to slowly pick her up, struggling the entire way. It took the young woman a few moments to raise Rio up to the sky, but the minute she did, their soul wavelengths crashed into each other, not meshing at _all._ The action sent the girl reeling, and she unintentionally tossed Rio through the air.

Rio braced herself for impact as she flew through the air, staying in her weapon form, and was surprised when a hand reached out and grabbed her by the hilt, holding her up to the sky. The students who had been previously trying to use Rio watched in shock, as this boy who'd grabbed her was holding her with ease, and wasn't recoiling from the difference in soul wavelengths.

In fact, her soul wavelength was _thrumming_ in time with his, and it felt...well, not exactly like when hers and Ryoga's wavelengths were in tune, but it was damn near close.

The boy who'd caught her was barely taller than Ryoga; he wore glasses, along with a white buttondown shirt and a black waistcoat, as well as a green scarf. He lowered his arm so he could look directly at the shortsword in his hand, and spoke. "Are you alright?"

The blade of the shortsword dematerialized and was replaced with Rio's upper half, who nodded in response to his question. "Yes, I'm alright, thanks to you."

The boy smiled and shook his head, "It was nothing. My name's Durbe. And you are?"

"Rio, Rio Kamishiro." Rio smiled back at him, before looking down to the ground. "Would you mind letting me go now?"

"Right, sorry." Durbe let go of the hilt of Rio's blade, and no sooner than he did, did she shift out of her weapon form, her feet landing firmly on the stone floor beneath them. "There you go. Well, it was nice to meet you." He said, beginning to turn with the intent of walking away.

Rio gave him a funny look, shocked that this Meister who handled her without any issue was just walking away as opposed to ogling over her like most people did. "I'm surprised that a partnerless Meister is passing over a weapon they flowed well with."

Durbe stopped and turned back to look at Rio. "As honored as I'd be to be your Meister," he began, raising his hand to motion to the tag on his chest. "I'm looking for one myself." 

Oh, Rio realized. His tag said 'Weapon', too. What a shame, she could have proved Ryoga wrong by showing back up with a Meister that would have matched her soul's wavelength. Wait... if Durbe matched _her_ soul wavelength... it'd make sense that he'd match Ryoga's too, right?

Rio smirked then and folded her arms. "What if I said I could find you one?"

"I doubt it," Durbe said, shaking his head. "No one's wanted me as their weapon."

Rio frowned at that, tilting her head just slightly. "Why's that?"

"Because I'm not exactly a 'weapon', per se." Durbe pushed his glasses up then, looking somewhat embarrassed. "My weapon form is a metal shield; A heater shield to be exact, one that curves and comes to a point on top."

"A shield?" Rio murmured incredulously. This was the first time she'd heard of someone's weapon form being something more defensively based as opposed to offensively based. People were usually swords or scythes or something of the sort, but a shield? She took a moment to think, before smiling knowingly. "I don't think that will change anything. Follow me."

With nothing to lose, Durbe agreed, and followed Rio as she made her way back to Ryoga, who was still leaning against the same pillar.

"Back so soon?" Ryoga questioned with a smirk. 

"Oh, hush." Rio chided, before gesturing a hand to Durbe. "This is Durbe. Durbe," Rio looked to Durbe then, now motioning at Ryoga. "This is my twin brother, Ryoga."

"Your twin?" Durbe inquired, looking between the two. "It's nice to meet you, Ryoga."

"Really? This nerd is your partner?" Ryoga asked with a bit of snark to his tone, causing Durbe to frown slightly and Rio to put her hands on her hips.

"Nope," Rio replied, leaning in a bit, a mischievous grin on her face, "He's _yours."_ With that, she looked to Durbe. "Do you mind showing us your weapon form?"

Durbe shook his head, and quickly shifted from his human form to his weapon form, which was true to his word, a white metal heater shield. Ryoga instinctively caught Durbe before he hit the ground and blinked frowning as he begrudgingly strapped Durbe to his left arm. He was about to make a comment about how in the hell would he be able to use this guy as an actual weapon, but as Ryoga took note of their matching soul wavelengths, he kept his mouth shut, but frowned nonetheless, a low hum escaping him.

"Well?"

Ryoga looked at Rio upon hearing her knowing tone. "His soul wavelength matches almost as well as yours does." He admitted. When Rio smirked and nodded, he rolled his eyes and looked down at Durbe. "Alright, nerd. What do you have to say about this?"

"My name is Durbe, _not_ nerd, first off." Came Durbe's voice, emanating from the shield. "Secondly, I'm willing to see where this partnership takes us if you are."

"Can you attack at all?"

"Not to my knowledge." Durbe explained, sounding downtrodden, "But perhaps I just need a Meister to draw out my latent abilities."

"Hmm." Ryoga frowned still, but sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I can work with that." He looked to Rio then, who looked pleased with herself. "And what about you? You still haven't found yourself a Meister."

Ryoga's only reply was Rio saying, "Catch."

With that, Rio lunged for her twin brother, quickly shifting into her weapon form, and Ryoga was quick to catch her, wielding her in his right hand. The moment his hand grabbed at the hilt of her blade, he gasped, feeling the power of two different soul wavelengths mesh in near sync with his own. It was unlike anything he'd felt before, unlike how he felt simply wielding Rio by herself. He didn't know how to describe it, but if he had to put it into words, it was like his soul was humming a tune, and both Rio and Durbe's souls managed to not only match his tune, but find their own respective harmonies to compliment it.

"I think..." Ryoga said after exhaling a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, "I think we can make this work."

Simultaneously, Rio and Durbe shifted out of their weapon forms and were soon standing on either side of Ryoga. Looking at themselves amazedly. They surely had felt it too, the same near synchronization that Ryoga himself had felt... They both looked at Ryoga, Durbe with a weak smile on his face, and Rio practically grinning from ear to ear. "I think we can too, Ryoga." They both looked at Durbe then, who was still looking at his hands in awe. He looked up then, feeling the twins' gaze upon him, and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I think this will work."

* * *

Yuma Tsukumo watched as a purple haired Meister paired up with two weapons - a sword and shield - and pouted, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "Man, I hope I find a partner soon." He looked down at his Meister tag, then began walking around, trying to find a weapon who he could match up with. He was met with nothing but denials and refusals, all from weapons who'd already partnered up with other Meisters.

"Gah!" Yuma used both hands to scratch at his head, a look of duress on his face, "Why is this so hard?!" All he wanted to do was find a partner to be best friends with and go on cool adventures and---

"Alright kiddos," Lord Death announced, "Everyone seems to have found themselves suitable partners! Let's start heading inside!"

"W-Wait, what?!" Yuma asked, his cry going unheard by Lord Death due to the chatter of dozens of students excited by what awaited them, "Does everyone have a partner but me?"

As the students began funneling their way into the school, Yuma simply stood in place, watching as they entered the school without him. "Maybe somebody's late!" He told himself, standing tall with his hands at his hips. "Maybe this is just how mine and my partner's story starts!" He turned and looked out to Death City, seeing if he was right and someone _was_ late. "Maybe--"

"Uh, hello?"

Hearing Lord Death's voice, Yuma froze, and slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder. Upon seeing Lord Death waiting for him patiently, Yuma blanched and turned around immediately, booking it towards the school's entrance. "Sorry, Lord Death!"

"Hold your horses there, kiddo," Lord Death held out a hand in order to slow Yuma down, and looked at him curiously. "You look familiar. What's your name?"

Yuma blinked at that. Familiar? How did he manage to come off as familiar? This was his first time meeting Lord Death face-to-face! "Yuma Tsukumo."

"Tsukumo? Tsukumo..." Lord Death rose a hand to the bottom of his mask, tapping it gently as he looked upward in thought. _"Tsukumo..._ Aha!" Lord Death clapped his hands together, then looked back down towards Yuma. "Your parents wouldn't happen to be Mirai and Kazuma, would they?"

"Yeah, that's my mom and dad!" Yuma said proudly, smirking as he did so. His smirk faltered slightly though as he asked, "How did you know that?"

"You're the spitting image of your father!" Lord Death replied cheerfully. "I remember him and your mother well! They worked for me for a short time, and your mother was well on her way to being a Death Scythe when she and Kazuma decided they wanted to start a family together. How are they doing?"

Yuma looked downward for a moment then, exhaling before looking back up at Lord Death. "They went missing several years ago. There was a gathering of witches near our town, and everyone who could fight went to do so. They never came back."

"Oh..." Lord Death's usually goofy boice became serious then, and he placed a hand onto Yuma's shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. Your mother and father were good people."

"Thanks." Yuma nodded at that, then looked up to Lord Death with a smile. "That's why I came here, I want to be as good as my parents were; better even! Then maybe one day I can go out and find them!"

"That's an admirable goal, Yuma!" Lord Death's voice was back to its goofy self again, and he removed his hand from Yuma's shoulder, turning to look towards the school's entrance, "Let's get you a partner and get you settled into the DWMA nicely!"

"But Lord Death," Yuma began, walking with the headmaster into the school, "isn't it too late to find a partner?"

"Not at all!" Lord Death's voice was chipper, and there was a bit of a bounce in his proverbial step as he floated down the hallway, guiding Yuma to where the other students were being shown around by various teachers. "There are some students here who still don't have a partner, so perhaps one of them will be the key to finding you someone to partner up with!"

"You think so?"

"My boy, I know so!" As they joined the rest of the students in the hallway, Lord Death continued, "Let's just have a looksee at your soul," Lord Death said as he stsred right at Yuma, "and I'll be able to tell you if... you... Huh."

Yuma blinked. "Um, Lord Death? Is everything ok?"

Lord Death was quiet for a moment, but soon snapped out of whatever caught him off guard, laughing slightly. "Oh, its nothing. The souls of you youngsters never cease to amaze me!" His laughter slowed to a stop, before he cleared his voice. "How about this: After classes today, before you head home, stop by my office and we'll see about finding you a partner?"

Yuma smiled brightly at that, "Alright, sounds like a plan!"

"Well then, get along and join your fellow classmates before we lose them again!" Lord Death patted Yuma's back gently, and Yuma nodded walking towards the group and waving back at Lord Death, who enthusiastically returned the wave. When Yuma was out of sight, engulfed by the mass of students, Lord Death turned to one of the teachers nearby. "Sid?"

Sid Barrett turned at the sound of Lord Death's voice, and stood at attention. "Yes, Lord Death?"

"How's our friend downstairs doing today?"

Sid hummed lowly, shaking his head. "He still refuses to talk to us, sir. He only asks for books to read and paper to write with. Why do you ask?"

Lord Death looked back towards the disappearing mass of students, and spoke softly, "I believe we might have found a Meister for our magic friend."


	2. Enter Astral - A Witch's Human Experiment?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lord Death said there was a partner out there for him, this was not what Yuma thought he meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a very Yuma centric chapter! Don't worry, we'll see Ryoga and the others, as well as some other familiar faces soon c:

As the sun began to set, Yuma was guided to Lord Death's room by Sid, only to be stopped outside the room by Lord Death himself. "Let's take a walk, kiddo!" He proclaimed to Yuma, waving both him and Sid on. "Follow me!" 

Yuma nodded and began walking behind Lord Death and Sid, walking down a level of the academy... and down another level... and another level... _and another level_ until they reached a part of the school that Yuma failed to recognize, the area not being covered on his academy tour with his fellow students. "Where are we?"

"We're heading down to the basement." Sid stated plainly, looking over his shoulder at Yuma as they walked. "Tell us now if you're claustrophobic. The hallways down there are thin and low."

Yuma shook his head at Sid's words, causing the zombie man to shrug and turn back forward. When they reached another level of the school that called for them to go down, Yuma noticed Sid was right. The cheerful demeanor of the academy began to fade away as colorful wallpaper and wide open halls were exchanged for cold, hard stone packed thickly together, and thin hallways with low ceilings. Spikes decorated the upper walls whenever candles were not present, and the makeup of the academy's basement became much more maze-like in quality.

As they walked further into the basement, Yuma swallowed harshly, not liking the feel of this area of the school. "How, uh, how often do students have to come down here?"

"Usually never," Sid replied, not turning his head back to look at Yuma this time.

"But I think this is a special case." Lord Death added on, turning a corner into a new hallway, one that had a large door at the end of it. Once they reached that door, Lord Death looked at Yuma. "There's someone I want you to meet." With that, he shifted, allowing Sid to move in front of him, and knock on the door.

"Hey, kid. It's me again. How're you feeling?" When he recieved no answer from the other side of the door, Sid sighed and looked to Lord Death. "He's just been like this, not really speaking."

"It's alright, Sid." Lord Death assured, before clearing his throat and speaking aloud. "Yoohoo, Astral? How ya doing in there?"

Yuma blinked at the name Lord Death called out. Astral? Was that who he was supposed to meet?

"I have someone here to see you." Lord Death continued, knocking on the door himself. "Hello?" When he was met with no response, Lord Death nodded to Sid. "Open the door."

Sid nodded in return and spoke aloud, "We're coming in, kid."

As the door opened, Yuma peered inside, surprised to see a small room, complete with a desk, a bed, a dresser, and a mirror. He was also met with a dark-skinned male who appeared to be a little bit older than him, sitting in a chair at the desk, but facing the door. He was adorned with freckles on his face and arms, and had snow white hair that almost seemed to glow, as well as heterochromatic eyes: one gold and one silver. Dangling from his ears were long, silverite earrings, the length of which reached the tip of his shoulders. 

"Astral?" Lord Death asked, peering in the door. "Howzit goin'? You need anything?"

Astral looked away from the door for a moment, before exhaling and finally speaking. "I'd like some food."

"Of course! Sid?" Lord Death looked down at Sid then, "Would you mind going and getting our young friend something to eat?"

"Of course, sir!" Sid replied, quickly moving past Yuma and out of sight. It was only then that Astral seemed to notice Yuma, and perked up somewhat. 

"Who's that?"

"Well," Lord Death began, "I said I had someone here to see you!" He looked at Yuma then, who stared back up at his headmaster unsurely, "This is Yuma. I think the two of you might get along well together."

Yuma stepped into the room of his own volition, smiling as he did so. "Hey! I'm Yuma!" He held out a hand to shake, which Astral just stared at. Yuma laughed awkwardly, looking back at Lord Death for some assistance.

"Now Astral, be nice." Lord Death chided, shaking his head.

With a sigh, Astral spoke, moving his hand to shake Yuma's. "Hello, Yuma. I'm Astral." As their hands touched however, the two males both recoiled, pulling their hands back in surprise.

"Woah..." Yuma said in awe, looking at his hand before looking up at Astral. "You felt that too, right?"

Astral was silent, looking over the front and back of his hand before looking to Yuma with a nod. "Yes... It was like your soul wavelength charged my own." Astral frowned before looking at Lord Death, who hadn't moved from his spot outside the door. "What's the meaning of this?"

Lord Death was silent however, his gaze focused on Yuma as the young teen went perusing around Astral's desk. 

"You've got alotta books." Yuma commented, causing Astral to turn his head to look at Yuma. "And a whole bunch of papers too, what, are you writing an essay for the school or somethin'?"

As Yuma looked over the papers however, he noticed something strange. All the writings on the papers were in strange, block-ish symbols, like Astral had been writing in code or something. But what was stranger still was that Yuma found himself being able to actually _read_ the symbols. "'Fire... Water... Darkness...' Why're you writing all weird?"

Both Astral and Lord Death seemed to be surprised by this, Astral speaking up. "You can read that?"

"Somehow, yeah." Yuma looked to Astral, tilting his head somewhat. "Can't you? I mean, you're the one writing this."

"No, I can, it's just..." Astral frowned, standing up and looking over his papers. "How can you read that?"

"I dunno." Yuma admitted, "I just can."

Astral looked hesitant, before looking to Lord Death. "Who is he?" He asked, pointing at Yuma. "Why did you bring him here?"

"Well, Yuma is a new student at the Academy." Lord Death answered, a cheerful tone to his voice. "And as for why I brought him here, well, you needed a Meister, and he needed a Weapon."

Both Astral and Yuma looked surprised at Lord Death's words, Yuma being the first one to speak up. "This is the partner you were tellin' me about?" Yuma looked at Astral then, a bright smile on his face. "What kind of weapon can you turn into?"

At that, Astral flinched, and frowned deeply. "You brought him here, but haven't told him anything?" Astral asked Lord Death, causing Yuma to give a confused hum. Told him what?

"Now, now kiddo, don't get all riled up." Lord Death put up a hand, shaking it somewhat as he spoke. "Listen, I saw Yuma's soul, and I've been in the business long enough to tell when two souls can match well together. Just show him what you got."

Astral looked hesitant, and after a few moments of inaction, he exhaled and shifted into his weapon form, falling to the ground. Yuma blinked as he stared at Astral's weapon form.

"You're... a book?"

And a book indeed he was, thick in both pages and cover, his cover a dark blue adorned with markings on the sides that matched the earrings Astral had been wearing. But on the center of his front and back cover, was an emblem which looked like a warped, purple Fleur-de-lis, with a pink gem at its center.

Leaning down to pick Astral up with surprising ease despite his heavy looking size, Yuma felt a shockwave of soul waves run through his system, like adrenaline coursing through his veins. He opened the book to some blank pages, and frowned at the lack of text, flipping through the pages until he reached some that had text written in them.

Or rather, had symbols written in them. Yuma was met with the same symbols that Astral had been writing on his papers. He read aloud the first word he saw. 

"...Light?"

No sooner than the word left his mouth, a shining light emerged from Astral's pages, illuminating the dimly lit room with a bright, warm glow; Yuma nearly dropped Astral in surprise as a result. "What?" Yuma leaned back slightly from the intensity of the light, looking at Lord Death for assistance. Lord Death was uncharacteristically silent, though if his posture alone was anything to go by, he was more than interested in what was going on - he was leaned in, his upper half through the door frame, as opposed to being fully outside the door as he had been. 

Unsure of what to do, Yuma strained to try and see any other words through the light, but saw only one taking precedence over all the others: "Release!" At that, the light immediately began to wane back into Astral's pages, until all that was left was a faint glow that simmered down into nothing. The moment the light was fully gone, Astral shifted out of his weapon form, standing next to Yuma. Yuma looked over Astral once, and asked, "Your weapon form is a spellbook? I've never heard of anything like that."

"That's because there _shouldn't_ be anything like that." Astral said tersely, before turning back to his desk and sitting down, scooting his chair in. 

"Hey," Yuma asked, gently putting a hand on Astral's shoulder, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Astral replied, despite not looking Yuma in the eye as he spoke, "Just leave me alone."

"C'mon, we're partners now," Yuma gave Astral's shoulder a friendly squeeze, "we should--"

"We are _not_ partners." Yuma was met with Astral's annoyed gaze at that, a frown etched across his lips. "I don't need a partner, and I don't _want_ a partner. I just want--" He cut himself off and scoffed, again looking away from Yuma. "Just leave me alone."

"But--"

"Come now, Yuma," Lord Death suddenly chimed in, his voice gentle. "Let's give Astral a bit of alone time, why don't we?"

Yuma looked between Astral and Lord Death, before sighing and nodding, walking towards the door. Before he left though, he looked over his shoulder at Astral, who was focused on scribbling something down. "It was cool meeting you." He said insistently, wanting to prompt some sort of response from Astral, but to no avail. Exhaling, Yuma walked through the door, Lord Death closing it behind him.

"Let's head back to the Death Room, Yuma." Lord Death said softly, beginning to move down the hallway. "Sid will join us after getting Astral something to eat."

"Why is Astral in that room?" Yuma asked, it now dawning on him that a student of the school was being harbored in the basement of the academy.

"I'll explain everything when we're upstairs." Lord Death left it at that, and remained silent all the way until his Death Room.

* * *

Upon reaching the Lord Death's room again, Yuma felt the urge to bombard his headmaster with many, many questions over what had just transpired, but he refrained, staying silent until the two of them entered and reached the center of Lord Death's room, Lord Death standing in front of his tall, body length mirror. "Now," he began, clapping his hands together, "I know you must have questions! So ask away, and I'll do my best to answer them for you!"

Yuma's face scrunched as he thought through his mental bank of questions, before deciding to go with a somewhat obvious one. "Why are you keeping a student of the school in the basement?"

"Astral isn't a student of the school, exactly." Lord Death began, raising a single finger in a very 'matter-of-fact' way. "He's here because he's under our protection."

"Protection?" Yuma asked, frowning. "Protection from what?"

Lord Death was silent, before turning his back to Yuma, opting instead to look at the mirror in the center of his room. "You have a history with witches, young man. Maybe not directly first hand, but your family has fought them for a long time, haven't they? Even before your mother and father, their parents before them were each students at this academy at some point. Your grandmother Haru was an exceptionally bright young Meister in the classroom, for example."

Yuma nodded in response, not knowing much about his mother's side of the family, but knowing that his father's side had been active in the business of hunting witches for generations.

"Even knowing this about your family," Lord Desth continued, not looking away from his mirror, "I'd be remiss to ask you, what are your personal feelings on witches?"

Silence filled the room as Yuma tensed at his question, his gaze immediately falling to the ground. The silence hung in the air for a few seconds, before Yuma finally spoke.

"You'd think because my parents vanished fighting witches that I'd hate them all," He murmured, digging the toe of his shoe at the ground beneath him. "That because of my family, I'd hate them. But I can't help but compare them to regular people."

"Oh?" Lord Death's tone rose at that, but he remained still in front of his mirror, not turning to look at Yuma.

"Yeah," Yuma continued, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Its something I can't talk to my sister or grandma about, but... there are bad people in the world. Horrible people, even. But not every person is bad." He looked up towards Lord Death then, a look of thoughtfulness on his face. "Can't the same be applied towards witches?"

"You think there are good witches out there?"

"There's gotta be." Yuma insisted, his gaze fixed on Lord Death. "People don't start off bad. I don't think witches do either."

Lord Death chuckled softly, turning his head to look over his shoulder at Yuma. "That's not a sentiment you'll find many people share, Yuma."

"I know," Yuma admitted, "but it's what I believe."

"And do you believe the same when it comes to wizards?" Lord Death asked, turning to face Yuma.

"Wizards?" Yuma gave Lord Death a skeptical look. "I thought wizards were a myth; but, if they were real then yeah."

"Wizards are real, Yuma.They might not be nearly as common as witches, but they are out there." Lord Death looked back at his mirror then, and was quiet for a moment.

The silence hung between them awkwardly, but despite that, Lord Death kept his gaze on the mirror, looking at Yuma only knew what. Yuma looked towards Lord Death expectantly, knowing there was something that was left unsaid, but unsure as to what it was. "Um--"

"What I am about to tell you," Lord Death began, his tone becoming serious, "is _not_ to be repeated to anyone outside this room."

Yuma swallowed at the sudden change in tone, but nodded nonetheless, knowing that whatever Lord Death was about to tell him was important. Again, there was silence between the two for a few moments, until Lord Death finally spoke.

"Our young friend Astral is the child of a wizard."

Yuma blinked at Lord Death's words, a look of confusion on his face. "He's what?"

Lord Death nodded, and continued. "He's the son of a wizard named Eliphas. Eliphas was a close ally of mine, helping me by giving me inside information of going-ons in the world of the witches. In return, I'd promised him protection for his boy no matter what."

Yuma frowned slightly at the past tense Lord Death was using. "Is he...?"

"Dead?" Lord Death shook his head slowly, turning it over his shoulder and looking towards Yuma. "We don't know. All we know is that he and Astral were abducted by someone with magic - presumably a witch - and were held against their will for some time."

At that, Lord Death stepped aside from his mirror, and Yuma watched as the glass began to warp until it showed Astral in his room, sitting at the desk, scribbling away at paper. "Astral was experimented on during that time by their captor, and as a result, can now transform into that spellbook that you saw. Astral was not a weapon by birth; his newfound power was forced upon him, a power he can't control on his own. Those symbols he writes - they're not Witch Text. They're something new, something Eliphas was researching before being abducted."

Yuma walked up to the mirror as Lord Death spoke, placing a hand on it as he watched Astral scrawl away at the paper. "How did he escape?"

"Astral told us that his father managed to fight back against their captor one day, and in the ensuing chaos, Astral fled." Lord Death too began watching Astral, a faint sadness to his tone as he continued speaking. "He claimed that in his escape, a figure shrouded in dark mist began to chase after him, and that as he was being chased, he thought of his father's words; That if anything ever happened to him, to head here. Apparently, he protected himself using the raw energy of his newfound power, and teleported himself here. He appeared in an unconcious heap in the school's courtyard at night, and he's been here ever since. That was a little over a week ago."

With a sigh, Lord Death began to pace slowly, his gaze not leaving the mirror. "Since then, Astral's holed himself away, trying to make sense of his newfound power, and of the symbols that he can't seem to get out of his head."

Yuma frowned as he thought, a confused look coming over him. "Symbols that... I can read?"

"Yes, so it seems." Lord Death stopped his pacing then, looking at Yuma, who was still facing the mirror. "How that is, remains to be seen."

Yuma turned away from watching Astral then, looking over his shoulder at Lord Death unsurely. "I don't know." He answered honestly. "I just...can."

"Perhaps this has something to do with your ability to sync wavelengths." Lord Death suggested, his gaze not leaving Yuma. "Perhaps you two were destined for each other."

Yuma turned his head back to the mirror, watching as Astral crumpled a piece of paper and threw it to the ground, opting instead to open a book and read its contents. "I don't know about that, Lord Death sir, he didn't seem to want anything to do with me."

"Give it time." Lord Death soothed, stepping forward and putting a hand on Yuma's shoulder. "Young Astral is still angry at the world for putting him in this situation, and scared for both his father and himself." Lord Death gazed upon the image in the mirror as well, watching now as Astral ran his fingers through his hair, shoving the book to the side and holding his face in his hands. "He seeks answers he won't find here."

"Answers about the symbols?" Yuma asked, looking up at Lord Death.

"Yes, but also about magic in general." Lord Death continued, taking his hand off of Yuma and stepping back. "About Witch Text and its ties to these symbols. About why what happened, happened to him and his father. About what to do next."

Yuma watched as Lord Death began to pace again, turning his back to the mirror, allowing the image of Astral to fizzle away. "About what to do next?" He echoed questioningly. "You mean, he has a plan?"

"Quite the opposite; he has no plan." Lord Death chuckled somewhat, shaking his head. "The day he woke up after arriving here, after telling me what happened, he attempted to leave, wanting to retrieve his father immediately. He had no clue where to start, other than trying to activate the teleportation power that had saved him in a moment of distress. After hours of him meditating and focusing on where he and his father had been held captive and not being able to use his power, he attempted to leave Death City."

"So you stopped him."

"I did. I can't guarantee his safety if he leaves Death City by himself." Lord Death stopped pacing again, looking back at Yuma.

"And that's why he's in the basement?" Yuma asked, a slight look of horror coming to him. 

"No, not at all." Lord Death said, raising his hands reassuringly. "He's down there mainly because there's no other place in the DWMA for him to stay. Does him being there allow me to keep an eye on him? Yes. But is he free to leave his room and explore Death City as he pleases? Yes." Lord Death lowered his hands then, a sigh escaping him. "I think he's just unsure of how to deal with other people. I can't imagine that as the son of a wizard that his friend pool is very big."

"Oh." Yuma looked back to the mirror then, frowning as Astral was no longer visible. "... What about if he became a student of the school? He could get an apartment in Death City then, and not have to live in the basement!"

Lord Death's expression softened at that, and a laugh left him. "Let me guess, he'll enroll as a Weapon, with you as his Meister?"

"Uh-huh!" Yuma turned his head to Lord Death and smiled brightly, nodding as he did so. "If we partner up, we can work together to control his power, and who knows, we might be able to rescue his father!"

"My boy, you are a delight!" Lord Death exclaimed. "To think, your family has hunted witches for generations, and now you're saying you want to save a wizard?"

Yuma nodded again. "Its like I said earlier, ain't it? Not all people are bad, so not all witches and wizards are too? If Eliphas was helping you help protect everyone from witches, he can't be bad!"

Lord Death laughed once more. "Young man, if you can convince him, I'd happily let Astral be a part of this academy."

At that, Yuma smiled brightly, nodding once before beginning to turn to leave Lord Death's room. "I'll stop by and talk to him in the morning! By this time tomorrow, we'll be partners for sure, I know it!" With that, Yuma bade Lord Death goodbye, and exited the Death Room.

Lord Death exhaled heavily, turning back to his mirror and pulling Astral back up on it, watching the young man leave the desk and climb into bed. "I sure hope so, Yuma." He murmured, despite said young man already having left the room. "I sure hope so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this its a little soon to update seeing as I just started this fic like 2 days ago, but I was just in a big mood to write for this fic. Still expect random updates from this ppint on out.


	3. Day One of School - Start!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its the first offical day of class for all the new, incoming students. Will everyone be there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait between updates, school's been rough :/

Durbe had always been an early riser; today was no different. He stepped out of his bedroom, all dressed and freshened up for the day, and looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, noticing he still had another 30 minutes before he needed to start heading to school. He glanced over to the apartment's other bedroom door, noticing it still closed, and gave a short hum, before heading into the kitchen.

He'd only been living in Death City a few days, but his movements in the kitchen were already routine: Get a small pot of water boiling on the stove top. Get two mugs while waiting for the water to boil. Get instant coffee ready for one mug, get a bag of oolong tea ready for the other. The water wouldn't be hot enough yet; Get some bread in the toaster. By the time the toast was ready, the water would be too.

As the toast popped up from the toaster, Durbe heard the creaking of the second bedroom door opening, and spoke without turning to face the person leaving their bedroom. "You're running late today." Durbe put the toast on a plate to cool down, and then turned to the stove, turning off the heat and removing the pot, to pour water into both the mugs. "You're usually out of your bedroom before I'm out of mine."

"I was studying last night." Came the reply, the sound of one of the kitchen chairs moving tipping Durbe off that he was no longer alone in the kitchen.

"Studying?" Durbe asked, an incredulous look crossing his face as he grabbed the mug of oolong tea, handing it to his sitting roommate. "It's barely the first day of class, Mizael."

Mizael gave a low hum of acknowledgment at Durbe's words. "For you, it is, but I started yesterday. Regardless, one of my professors already implied that this year will be rough when it comes to in-class assignments, and got straight into lecture." He took his mug from Durbe, giving his roommate his thanks before speaking again. "Besides, I don't want to fall behind in class."

Durbe gave a playful scoff at that, putting a bit of creamer in his coffee. "You mean you don't want to fall behind _Kaito Tenjo."_ He remarked, taking a sip of his coffee as he watched Mizael stop swirling his tea bag.

With a sigh, Mizael shook his head. "I won't let this year end up like last year."

Rolling his eyes at that, Durbe put down his coffee and began to butter the toast. "You ended up tying in rank with him, and if I recall correctly, you were both pretty high in your class."

"But I'm _better_ than him."

"Mizael--"

"I _am."_ Mizael blew on his tea before slowly drinking it. "I'm going to prove it this year."

Durbe grabbed the plate of buttered toast as well as his coffee, moving the plate from the kitchen counter to the center of the table, and sat across from Mizael. "Aren't you both already 2-Star Weapons?"

Mizael nodded at that, putting his tea down. "Yes, we are. Professor Barrett said that we can start going on any 2-Star missions by the end of the week." Mizael then grabbed at a piece of toast, and sighed before taking a bite. "I need to work on my form before then."

Durbe took a sip of his coffee then. "I'm sure your form is fine, Mizael. Ever since we were kids, you've been so adept at managing your weapon form. The fact that you've managed for so long without a Meister is astounding."

Mizael grabbed a napkin as Durbe spoke, placing his toast on it so he could grab his mug and take a sip of his tea. "Speaking of Meisters..." Mizael raised a brow, looking at Durbe then. "You didn't talk much about yours yesterday. What's the situation with that?"

Durbe lowered his mug then, holding it as it rested on the table. "I managed to get partnered up with a pair of twins. A boy - Ryoga - and a girl - Rio. Ryoga's the Meister, Rio and I are his weapons."

"And what weapon is she?"

Durbe smiled as he recollected his experience with the twins, the feeling of their soul wavelengths in click with one another. "She's a shortsword."

Mizael looked over his roommate, smirking at the thought of a boy with a sword and shield as his partners. "Your Meister will have his hands full, that's for sure. It'll be harder for the three of you to achieve Soul Resonance with three people as opposed to two."

"Soul Resonance?"

Mizael nodded, sitting up a bit straighter and putting his mug down. "Its a benefit of having partners. Soul Resonance is when a Meister sends their soul wavelength into their Weapon, and the Weapon sends it back to the Meister, amplifying it in the process. This happens repeatedly, in quick succession, until the soul wavelengths are powerful enough enact some miraculous feat. It could be a special attack, or a transformation of the weapon. Sometimes both."

"The thing is," Mizael continued, "doing so required all souls involved to be in complete sync with one another. That's hard enough with two souls, but with three?" Mizael seethed, shaking his head. "That's extremely difficult."

"I see." Durbe murmured, taking another sip of his coffee. "For not having a Meister, you know alot about this."

"You're going to have to too." Mizael replied, grabbing his mug. "It's part of the curriculum; You're going to have to achieve Soul Resonance as part of a grade at some point in the school year."

"How'd you do then?" Durbe asked, frowning somewhat. "You don't have a Meister."

"Its not that I don't _have_ a Meister," Mizael said matter-of-factly, "Its that I am my _own_ Meister. And about that, the professor let me off for that assignment. You can't achieve Soul Resonance by yourself, after all."

As the conversation settled into silence, the two young men slowly drank their respective drinks, and ate away at the toast Durbe had made for them. However it wasn't long before Durbe broke the silence. "How do you do it?"

"Hmm?" Mizael looked to Durbe then, finishing up his piece of toast.

"How do you do it? Be your own Meister, I mean." Durbe pushed up his glasses slightly then, a sad smile coming to him. "You've always had such control over your weapon form, that you can manifest it into specific parts of your body, without fully changing into it." A sigh escaped Durbe as he thought back to yesterday's initial interaction with Rio, "Even Rio could do that. When I held her, she was able to shift her top half from weapon form to human form, but keep her bottom half in weapon form."

Durbe set his mug on the table with a light _clink_ and looked down into the nearly empty mug, his sad smile melding into a shamed look. "I can't do that. For me, its either human form or weapon form, there's no in between." He exhaled then, leaning back in his chair. "My partners are going to think I'm pathetic."

"No, they're not." Mizael replied, finishing the last of his tea. "Your partners should stick with you through everything, no matter what. You're supposed to grow together, not demean each other for what you can or can't do."

With a sigh, Durbe reached for his mug and finished off the last of his coffee. "...One of them already called me a nerd."

"Well, you are." Mizael snipped.

"Says the one studying the first night of the school year." Durbe shot back with a glare.

That got Durbe a nasty look, which he laughed at as he grabbed his and Mizael's mugs and he got up from the table to place them in the sink. "C'mon, we need to start heading to school."

* * *

As Durbe and Mizael walked from their apartment to the school, Mizael began to inform Durbe of what to expect in his first year. They had just been going over what to expect from his teachers when they heard someone calling Durbe's name.

Both Durbe and Mizael turned their heads to look behind them at the sound, Durbe lit up as he saw Rio and Ryoga someways behind them, Rio waving him down. Durbe looked to Mizael then and gave him a smile, shrugging somewhat. "That's them." He said as he began to pull away from his friend's side, heading toward Rio and Ryoga.

Mizael rolled his eyes and smirked, watching as Durbe turned fully to head towards his new partners. He watched as Durbe caught up to the twins, Rio greeting him happily, Ryoga looking rather indifferent. Mizael frowned slightly at that, noting that Ryoga wasn't very involved in whatever conversation Durbe and Rio were getting into, until Ryoga's gaze looked past Durbe and to him, noticing Mizael watching them.

Mizael stared down Ryoga, who in turn stared back at at him. The two stayed like that for a moment, glaring at each other, before Mizael turned and walked toward the school by himself.

Ryoga gave a 'hmph' at that, before turning his attention back to his sister and Durbe's conversation.

"--so I had to wake him up!" Rio groaned, causing Durbe to chuckle. "And on the first day of class!"

Ryoga blinked then frowned. "Are you talking about me?"

Rio rolled her eyes with a huff, placing her hands on her hips. "Who else would I have had to wake up this morning because they wouldn't get up on time?"

"I told you, I was up!"

Rio shook her head, before looking back at Durbe. "So who were you walking with?"

"Oh, Mizael?" Durbe asked, turning his head to look back in Mizael's direction, watching as his figure faded into the mass of people walking to school. "He's a childhood friend, and my roommate while I'm living in Death City. It's his second year here, so he's been filling me in on what to expect when it comes to the classroom."

"Maybe you can introduce us sometime." Rio said with a smile. 

"That'd be nice." Durbe agreed, "I'm sure he'd like to meet my new partners."

"That sounds good and all," Ryoga butted in, jamming his hands in his pockets as he began to walk away from the two of them, heading towards the school, "but we need to get a move on or else we'll be late."

At that, Rio and Durbe hurried to Ryoga, beginning to walk at his sides. The conversation turned to the topic of school, and what all Mizael told Durbe earlier that morning about future classes having to do with 'Soul Resonance', when a student rushed hurriedly past them, nearly knocking Durbe into Ryoga in the process.

"What the hell!?" Ryoga demanded, pulling a hand put of his pocket to shake a fist in the student's direction. "Watch where you're going!"

* * *

"Oh man, oh man, oh man!" Yuma cried as he ran towards the school, a frantic expression on his face as he ducked and swerved through the streets, nearly running into a few people in the process. "I majorly overslept! I should have been at the school already!"

Classes weren't due to start for another 10-15 minutes, but Yuma had planned to be there much earlier, to ask to see Astral again so he could try and convince him to enroll as a student of the DWMA. However, the young Meister had slept in past his alarm, and woke up far later than he would have liked.

As Yuma raced onto the campus, he looked around through the crowd of students impatiently, running in place as he muttered. "Gotta find Sid, gotta find Sid!"

Unable to spot the zombie professor, Yuma managed to get inside the school, his eyes lighting up as he spotted Sid directing incoming students to their respective classrooms. Yuma zoomed over quickly, startling Sid somewhat. "Hello again, Yuma. Bright and early for your classes?"

Yuma took a moment to pant, his hands on his knees as he took a second to catch his breath. "A-Actually...!" Yuma stood up straight, taking a deep breath. "Can you tell me how to get to Astral again? I told Lord Death I'd talk to him this morning."

"Yuma," Sid said somewhat unsurely, "Its fifteen minutes until classes start. You should have come earlier."

"I know, but I woke up late!" Yuma looked at Sid with pleading eyes, clasping his own hands together as he begged the undead professor. "Please!? I promise I'll be as quick as I can!"

After a few moments, Sid let loose a sigh and nodded. "Alright kid, but if you're late to your first class, it's on you." With that, Sid pulled another member of the DWMA staff who was walking by aside. "Naigus, do you mind helping out the new students? I have business to attend to."

Yuma looked the blue eyed, mummified looking woman over, noting the pin on her jacket that said 'School Nurse'. "Sure, Sid. I can help."

"Thanks, Naigus." Sid then began to walk away, waving Yuma to follow. "C'mon, kid."

Yuma followed Sid down the hallway, through some stairs, until Yuma recognized the change in brick and light that denoted their headway into the basement. It wasn't long at all before Yuma considered himself lost in the maze like structure of the school's underbelly, thankful that Sid was here to guide him.

When they reached the corridor Astral was in, Sid spoke. "There's your door. I'll wait for you as long as I can, but if you're not out within the next ten minutes, I'm leaving without you. I have a class I need to teach."

"How am I supposed to find my way out of here then?" Yuma asked incredulously.

"Get lucky."

With that, Sid knocked on Astral's door. "Hey? Kid? I got a visitor for you."

After a few seconds, the door opened, Astral appearing in the doorway. When his gaze landed on Yuma, however, his eyes narrowed. "You again?"

Yuma put his hands up somewhat, as a show of no ill-will. "I'm just here to talk."

Astral let a moment of silence hang between them, before exhaling and moving to the side, giving Yuma space to enter his room. Yuma smiled brightly at that, and walked in, Sid staying out in the hallway.

"I'll leave you two to it, then." With that, Sid closed the door, leaving Yuma and Astral alone. 

Yuma took a second to look at his surroundings, noticing not much had changed from yesterday, other than an extra book or so on the desk, as well as some few extra papers.

"So?" Astral asked, pulling Yuma from his inspection. "What is it you want to talk about?"

Yuma was silent for a few moments, realizing that while he made all this effort to get _to_ Astral, he forgot to think about what to actually _say_ to him to get him to join the DWMA, and as his Weapon no less.

Time to wing it.

"I... talked with Lord Death yesterday, after meeting you."

Astral folded his arms. "Oh?"

A nod left Yuma. "Yeah, I don't know if he told me everything, but," Yuma looked Astral in the eyes. "He told me alot."

Frowning, Astral looked over Yuma. "Did he now?"

"He told me about you, who you are, and what had happened to you." Yuma took a small step towards Astral. "He said your dad is a wizard. That you both were kidnapped, and you managed to escape." Yuma watched as Astral began to drum his fingers against his arm, in what Yuma could only assume was annoyance, unfortunately. Maybe winging it wasn't the best option. "He said you don't know who did it."

"Is there any other information I already know that you want to repeat back to me," Astral asked irritably, exhaling sharply, "or are we done here?"

"I wanna help you find your dad."

That got Astral's attention, the young man's irritated posture relaxing somewhat. "... You what?"

"I wanna help you find your dad." Yuma repeated, a bit slower this time. "This isn't like, a prank or anything, I'm being honest. I wanna help you find him." Yuma gave Astral a sad smile then, taking another step towards him. "I know what its like to not have your dad when all you want is him, to know he's ok. I--"

"I don't need your pity!" Astral snapped, taking a step back from Yuma, frowning at him. "Who do you think you are, waltzing in here, acting like you know me after one conversation with Lord Death?" 

"I'm not pitying you!" Yuma snapped back, taking a larger step towards Astral. "I'm trying to offer you a helping hand!" 

"And what, pray tell, can some _human_ offer me that Lord Death can't?"

"Firstly, aren't you human too?" Yuma asked. "You might be a wizard's kid, but if you were a wizard too you wouldn't be sitting around here for a week trying to make sense of the weird blocky Witchtext, you'd be out there, trying to find your dad!"

Astral unfolded his arms then, taking several angry steps towards Yuma, "How dare you--"

"Secondly," Yuma stuck a hand out, grabbing at one of Astral's hands before the other male could reach him, and immediately, they could feel their soul wavelengths crash against each other. They were far from being in tandem with one another, and felt frazzled against each other, unlike how yesterday felt, when they felt like they were capable of charging one another. The feeling caused them both to seethe, before Yuma resumed speaking, "I can offer you a quicker way to your dad."

Astral yanked his hand out of Yuma's grip, taking a step back from the Meister. "You think you can get me to my father faster than Lord Death?"

"I never said faster than Lord Death," Yuma corrected, "I meant faster than what you've been doing since you used your new powers and teleported here." Yuma frowned and continued. "Just hear me out."

Astral was silent for a few moments, before sighing, shaking his head. "Fine, let's hear it."

Yuma smiled brightly then, placing his hands on his hips. "It's like this, see? You need to get stronger to find your dad. You need to learn to control your powers more, cuz since you ended up here, you haven't been able to use them again. If you had, you woulda teleported yourself back to where your dad was."

"So what's the quickest way to do that?" Yuma continued. "Teaming up with a Meister, and getting stronger together. A Meister would help you hone your new powers as a Weapon, and who knows, maybe along the way, you'll make friends who'll also want to help you. Luckily for you, you've got someone here who you know your soul wavelength is compatible with." He used his thumb then to point at himself. "Me."

"You're just saying this because you want a Weapon partner." Astral accused, looking unamused, and unconvinced. "Why should I go along with this?"

"Believe what you want," Yuma replied, taking a stel towards Astral again, "but you can't deny that teaming up with me would help you get stronger. If not in Weapon form, then it would at least strengthen your soul wavelength. Besides, its not like teaming uo with me would prevent Lord Death from doing anything about finding your dad." 

Yuma extended a hand then, looking at Astral wholeheartedly. "Enroll with me at the DWMA, and after school, you can come back here, and do all the research you want, like you've been doing. If anything, you can call off the arraignment whenever you want, and things can go right back to how they are now, no questions asked."

Astral seemed to consider this, looking at Yuma's hand, then up to Yuma. "You really want a weapon partner that badly?"

"I just want to reunite a dad and his son. If I can't have mine, at least you should have yours."

Astral's eyes widened at that, and he looked down at Yuma's hand again. Heterochromatic eyes flickered up to Yuma's, before looking back down at Yuma's hand and taking it in his own. The second he did, their soul wavelengths meshed, the fame feeling from yesterday coursing through them both.

Simultaneously, both males withdrew their hands from each other, and Yuma grinned brightly. "Its settled then! I'll go tell Lord Death that you'll become a student, then I'll head to class-- _Class._ Oh no, Sid!" At that, Yuma's eyes went wide and he turned to look at the door. "Oh, its been longer than 10 minutes, hasn't it?!" Yuma opened the door only to hang his head as he saw Sid was gone. "How am I going to get out of here now?"

Astral shook his head, frowning. Not even a minute into this deal and he was already questioning it. "I can lead you out of the basement. I know the way up to Lord Death's office; I'll tell him about my becoming a student, while you go to class."

Yuma turned his head to look at Astral. "Really? Oh, thanks! I would have been lost down here forever."

"Come on then," Astral beckoned, beginning to walk out of his room. "Let's get this over with." 

With that, Yuma followed Astral out of the room, and into the maze like corridors of the basement, filled with excitement at the prospect of having his own partner finally. He meant every word he'd said though, and wanted to reunite Astral with his father. He'd want someone to do the same if he were in Astral's position.

And in the end, maybe winging it hadn't been such a bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i watched high school musical 2 three times over writing this chapter. we've got to work, work, work this out.


	4. Head to Head! A Show of Strength Between Teacher and Student?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of class progresses, and in the process, Yuma and the others meet some interesting new people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! I've gotten a couple questions about how long this fic is going to be, and for a long explanation, you can read [this](https://city-writes.tumblr.com/post/188160356398/how-long-do-you-plan-on-your-soul-eater-au-being) on my writing tumblr, but long story short, I have no clue how long this is gonna be anymore. I've decided to stick with this fic longer than originally intended, so strap in folks!

As the students gathered into their respective classrooms, Durbe entered his classroom with Rio and Ryoga, the gray haired male looking around at the colosseum like seats of the classroom. He spotted a section of three seats near the middle row and looked at his partners. "Does there seem fine to you?"

Ryoga shrugged, giving a hum of disinterest as he did. Rio, on the other hand, nodded. "I think that should be fine. I'd prefer to sit closer, but we'll take what we can get."

"Alright." Durbe replied, and the three of them began to head towards their seats, with Durbe ending up sitting in between the twins. As they and the rest of the students began to settle down, one of the two professors in the room, a well built man with flame-shaped dark and light red hair closed the classroom door and took his place at the bottom of the colosseum like seats, next to the other professor - a slender woman with shoulder-length black and purple hair.

"Alright, alright, settle down, kids!" Spoke the man, waving his hands downwards as he did. "Welcome to your first official day of class!" There was a wide grin on his face as he spoke, excitement evident in his purple eyes. "I'm Professor Gauche, and this," he continued, raising a hand to the woman next to him without looking away from the students, "is my partner, Professor Droite."

Droite took a step forward then, addressing the students in a much more calmer tone than her partner. "We'll be your professors for combat, teaching you both through lecture and physical training." Honey brown eyes slowly gazed over each of the students then, and she continued to speak. "Lecture and physical training will each count towards 50 percent of your overall grade, so don't think you can get away with excelling in one area and shirking your responsibilities in the other."

"But don't worry!" Gauche continued, taking a step forward as well, standing in line with Droite, "As your professors, we'll do all we can to help you, so don't sweat it, alright?" With that, Gauche looked to Droite, who nodded as she raised a hand holding a clipboard. 

"Before we start today's introductory lesson, we're going to take attendance." Droite stated. "When I call your name, you will raise your hand and announce yourself, understand?" She received scattered murmurs of agreement and acknowledgement, before beginning to list off names, various students complying by raising their hands and replying with 'here' or 'present'. 

It wasn't long into the list when the classroom door swung open, causing the entire classroom to startle, and Yuma bust in, panting heavily as he did. "Whew! Made it!"

Droite and Gauche turned to look at each other, sharing a look before turning back to Yuma. 

"Name?" Droite asked dryly, the tone of her voice causing Yuma to gulp.

"Ah, Y-Yuma Tsukumo, ma'am."

Gauche folded his arms, shaking his head. "Late on the first day of class? Not the best first impression, kid."

Rio blinked as she looked over Yuma, before leaning towards Durbe and Ryoga and whispering, "Hey, isn't that the guy who ran into you both this morning?"

Durbe and Ryoga looked at Rio at that, before looking back at Yuma, getting a better look at him, causing Ryoga to frown deeply. "You're right, it's the same idiot from this morning...!"

"How did he get here late if he pushed by us...?" Durbe wondered aloud, causing Ryoga to scoff.

"Who cares? All I know is I'll get him back for that sooner or later."

Yuma did what he could to stammer out an explanation to his two professors. "Well, I-- You see-- The thing is--"

"It would be wise for you to go find a seat." Droite interrupted, looking absolutely unamused. "Now."

"Right!" Yuma was quick to turn on his heel and beeline it to the first empty seat he saw, doing his best to not look completely embarrassed at the turn of events.

As Droite and Gauche finished taking attendance, Gauche was quick to step up, addressing the students as he spoke. "Now, as it _is_ the first day of class, I can only assume the majority of you have little to no experience working with your new partners." He put a hand on a hip, his other hand scratching at his chin. "There may be the rare pair or so of you that have known each other before today, and perhaps you think that puts you ahead of your classmates."

"Well, don't." Droite continued, putting the clipboard down on a nearby desk, and walking to stand by Gauche's side. "Confidence, while an admirable trait, can be lethal in too large of doses, and can ultimately be a person's downfall. From where I'm standing, everyone here is on an even playing field, regardless of if they know their partner like the back of their hand, or don't know anything other than their partner's first name."

The classroom was quiet at that, and Gauche smirked proudly, folding his arms. "Of course, you're bound to have your own opinions. Some of you may even think we're wrong. If that's the case..." He looked at Droite then, who nodded and morphed into what looked like a small dark purple bar, landing straight in Gauche's left hand. "Volunteers are more than welcome to prove us wrong."

Murmurs arose amongst the students, some looking around to see if anyone dared to oppose their professors. 

It was then that a lone student stood up in the furthest back row, accompanied shortly by another student right next to him. All eyes were on them at this point. The first student to stand was a tall, broadly built young man, with a brown eyes and a bright green mohawk. He wore a white shirt with green accents around the edges of his shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. The student who stood at his side was a small statured, short young man with hair covering one of his green eyes. He work a dark red longsleeved button down shirt, and a pair of loose white pants.

"That big guy's a first year?" Yuma muttered to himself, looking over the taller of the two with disbelief. "He looks like he could be a third year here!"

Meanwhile, Ryoga watched the two carefully, frowning as he thought. He then leaned towards Durbe and Rio and spoke softly. "That big guy must be the meister, and the smaller guy his weapon."

Rio nodded in agreement, "I wonder what kinda of pair they make."

"I don't know," Durbe replied, "But I have a feeling they're about to surprise us all."

"So!" Gauche proclaimed, looking amused as he twirled the dark purple bar in his hand. "We got a couple takers? Alright, come down to the front of the classroom then!"

Both the students did as they were told, a bright grin on the smaller student's face, as opposed to the taller student, who looked more serious about the matter.

"What are your names?" Gauche asked, looking dead at the duo before him.

"The name's Gilag." Spoke the taller student, his voice somewhat deep. 

The smaller student's eye glistened with excitement, and he pointed to himself with a thumb. "And I'm Alit!" 

"Well Gilag, Alit." Gauche looked to each male as he spoke their name, "show us what you got."

Alit grinned widely at that, looking up towards Gilag. "You ready?"

"Of course." Gilag replied, finally cracking a smile.

A bright light eminated from their spot as one of the two males shifted into their weapon form. As the light died down, there were various gasps and some clamor as Alit was left standing before Gauche, a lone gray boxing glove on his right hand.

Ryoga and Rio's eyes widened at that, the two of them sharing a look. Alit was the Meister? Durbe, on the other hand, looked amused, and folded his arms, sitting back in his chair as he watched the scene before him unfold. Yuma watched with amazement, having never seen a boxing glove as a weapon before.

"Interesting..." Gauche murmured, before taking a stance. "Let's go, kid!"

Alit grinned excitedly at that, using his free hand to quickly and skillfully unbutton his shirt, throwing it behind him as he took an offensive stance, bringing both his hands up. He was surprisingly built as well, oerhaps not as on par with Gilag or even Gauche, but it was clear that Alit spent time working out. "You're on!" With that, Alit lunged, rushing Gauche and made a move to swing with his right arm, only to feint and swing with his left, the bare fist.

This, admittedly, caught Gauche off guard, but he was quick to adapt, throwing Droite up and blocking Alit's punch with the palm of his right hand. "Almost got me there, kid." Gauche said, before pushing Alit's fist away and leaping up and over Alit, grabbing Droite midair as he did so. He landed behind Alit, flipping the small purple bar that was Droite three times - once sideways, once forward, and once back, revealing a blade with a split handle.

"Woah." Durbe muttered, leaning forward somewhat.

"What kind of blade is that?" Ryoga asked, his eyes transfixed on Droite.

"That's a butterfly knife." Rio responded, getting comfy in her seat as she watched on. "It's handle is split down the center, so you can hide the blade in between them when you put it away."

"So it's a glorified switchblade, then." Ryoga said. 

"That's one way to look at it, I guess," Durbe replied, "But it takes alot of dexterity to work with a butterfly knife." He looked over Gauche then. "Our professor may look like a big guy, but he's gotta have alot of patience and be very careful."

"Well?" Gauche asked as Alit turned around to face him, Alit bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet, his fists close to his body. "Don't tell me you placed all your bets on that one feint!" As Gauche had been speaking, he'd been toying with the butterfly knive in his hand without looking at it, repeatedly flicking it sideways, forward, and back, closing it and opening it repeatedly. "Cuz that'd be a bore, kid, lemme tell ya."

Alit grinned and pounded his fists together, a playful laugh escaping him. "Don't count us out just yet!" With that he rushed Gauche again, his fists flying as he repeatedly took jabs at the professor, his fists blurring with speed. Though as impressive as his speed was, Gauche was dodging each and every jab like a champ, his speed in evasion matching Alit's in offense.

"You can't keep this up forever, kid!" Gauche proclaimed, still dodging Alit's jabs.

Alit grinned at that, his gaze meeting Gauche's. "Neither can you, old man!" He took a few more jabs at Gauche before crying out his partner's name. "Now, Gilag!" 

All the classroom leaned in to see what Alit had called on his partner for, what Gilag was bound to do, when the gray boxing glove began to change in color as Alit kept jabbing, lightening from a gray to a light red, then darkening with each jab Alit took.

Gauche frowned slightly as he dodged, noting an unnatural heat beginning to build up around them as the glove changed color, one not caused by their physicality. No, it felt like someone was beginning to turn up a furnace, blasting right in Gauche's direction. "What the...?" 

Alit flashed Gauche a proud grin, giving a yell of power as the now dark red boxing glove lit aflame. 

Gauche's eyes widened at that, and he jumped backwards, landing on the table in the center of classroom's floor, skillfully flipping the butterfly knife between his two hands as he thought on his feet, a bright grin curling on his lips. "So, we're heating things up, huh?" With that, Gauche tossed the butterfly knife into his right hand and jumped off the table, flanking to Alit's right, chuckling as Alit swung at him. Gauche ducked well below Alit's fist, and struck him with the handle end of the knife, straight into Alit's side.

Alit seethed as a stab of the enemy soul wavelength coursed through his body, rocking him and staggering him backwards, Gilag calling out for his partner. "Alit!"

"M' fine." He assured, using his non gloved hand to wipe away at sweat that was gathering above his lip. "Just caught me off guard, are you ok?."

"I'm good, just don't let it happen again, ok?" Gilag said, sounding concerned. "He's using his soul wavelength as a weapon too, a few more hits like that and we're done for."

Alit nodded in agreement and rushed Gauche once more, his fists somehow flying faster than before. Gauche continued to dodge, careful not to come into contact with Gilag, and was flipping his blade between his two hands all the while, tossing the butterfly knife in between his hands and Alit's flurrying fists, the actions fluid and almost trance-like.

"Amazing..." Rio murmured. 

"He's just toying with him at this point, isn't he?" Durbe inquired, unable to take his eyes off the fight. Rio merely hummed her response. Ryoga too, was focused on the fight, but said nothing.

As Gauche dodged Alit's blows, he'd been studying Alit's fight pattern, his eyes widening as he saw his chance to strike. "There!"

With a powerful yell, Gauche thrust the blade of the butterfly knife upwards, it looking like the blade was about to impale Alit through the stomach, when the blade was suddenly sheathed in a bright white light, and that light was what impaled through the young Meister, the light exiting through his back. The power of that blow was enough to knock Alit flat backwards, throwing him off his feet and headfirst into an unoccupied row of desks, breaking one of them.

"Alit!" Gilag was quick to shift back into his human form, kneeling by his partner. "You alright?" He sat Alit up then, looking over his fallen Meister with worry. "Alit?!" He looked at where Alit had been stabbed, but was surprised to find no blood there.

"He should be fine." Droite said as she changed back into her human form, standing at Gauche's side. "I covered my blade with our combined soul wavelengths and sent that through his system, to avoid actually penetrating him."

"I dunno, Droite," Gauche said, scratching at his head. "We mighta overdone it with that. I think just your soul wavelength woulda been more than enough."

Alit stirred then, and gave a dazed grin in response. "That.... was awesome!" He wheezed, struggling to sit up. He looked at his two professors, the smile never leaving his face. "You two are strong...!"

"Well, naturally." Gauche boasted, looking amused. "We _are_ your professors, after all."

"Maybe next time you'll think twice before being so overconfident." Droite spoke flatly, folding her arms.

Alit sat up fully at that, Gilag sighing at his Meister's response of, "Oh, we weren't being overconfident." 

Both Droite and Gauche blinked at that. "What?" Came the dual replies.

Gilag grinned somewhat sheepishly, the look odd on him. "We don't really think of ourselves as better partners than the class since we've known each other long."

"Nah," Alit continued, weakly waving a hand in front of him. "I just really wanted to take y'all up on your offer to fight!"

"You just... wanted..." Gauche repeated, before letting loose a roar of laughter, looking positively thrilled. "You hear that, Droite?"

Droite, on the other hand, simply exhaled and shook her head, but couldn't help the faint smile that tugged at the corner of her lips.

"So, you being a weirdo and taking off your shirt," Gauche continued, still looking amused as he spoke to Alit, "was that so you wouldn't get overheated when your partner began to heat up?"

"Yep!"

"That," Gilag added, "and he has a flair for the dramatic." This earned a pout from Alit.

The classroom was abundant with chatter, in awe of the skill from their professors, and the forwardness of the apparent thrill-seeking students that were Alit and Gilag.

"Alright, alright, settle down, everyone." Droite said as she began to walk away from the three of them and more into the center of the classroom. "That's enough ruckus for today." She looked over at Gauche, whom she'd expected to back her up, only to find him kneeling as well by Alit's side, talking to him and Gilag still. With a sigh, she hung her head, muttering to herself, "Not even a day in and he already has favorites." With that, she cleared her throat. "Gilag, take Alit down to the nurse's office, have her check up on him and make sure he's alright. Gauche, go ahead and show them where the nurse's office is, then come straight back."

"Right." Gauche stood up from his kneeling position, Gilag following suit, holding Alit in his arms. Gauche made sure to pick up Alit's shirt and covet him with it, before the three of them made their way to the classroom's door, opening it only to find someone on the other side.

Upon seeing the trio of men before him, Astral blinked, looking unamused before asking, "... Is this the right room for Combat Training lecture?"

The moment he heard Astral's voice, Yuma broke out into a grin. "It's Astral!" he whispered to himself.

"Yeah, this is it." Gauche replied, looking over his shoulder at Droite. "Hey Droite! Got a student here asking for this room!" With that, Gauche began leading Alit and Gilag to the nurse's office, leaving Droite on her own.

"Can I help you?" Droite asked as Astral stepped into the room.

Astral handed her two slips of paper from inside the journal he was holding, which Droite immediately began reading. A hushed murmur rose amongst the the majority of the students upon seeing Astral, who wore a standard DWMA uniform as opposed to a casual outfit, none of them recognizing him from yesterday's introductory day.

"Hmm. Welcome to the DWMA, Astral." She said as she finished reading the first slip of paper, "With the way Lord Death speaks of you in this paper, I look forward to seeing you excel in my class." It was then she looked to the second paper Astral handing her, and a small frown etching into her expression. "What's this?"

"It's an excuse for both my tardiness, and for the presumed tardiness of Yuma Tsukumo." Astral replied, straightening his tie. "Lord Death extends his apologies for both he and I missing any class time today."

"Yuma Tsukumo...?" Droite repeated, before looking to Yuma, who looked surprised. "What are two first year students doing for Lord Dea--" She looked down at the paper then, and upon reading further down the paper, as well as seeing Lord Death's seal, she silenced herself, looking from the paper, to Astral, back to the paper. "I see. Very well. I'll redact Yuma's tardy then. Astral, feel free to take the seat next to Yuma."

The murmurs of the class grew louder then as Astral walked to his seat, the information of Astral and Yuma's dealings with Lord Death being the newest gossip point for the teenaged students. 

"What do you guys think they were doing?" Durbe asked his twin partners, Rio looking thoughtful and Ryoga looking annoyed. 

"Who knows?" Rio whispered, looking over as Yuma began talking to Astral. "Maybe that's why he was rushing this morning, because he was late to meet Lord Death?"

"Whatever the reason is," Ryoga snapped, kicking his feet up on the desk, "We'll pay him back for this morning in one of the combat lessons we do."

Meanwhile, three rows below them, Yuma was excitedly talking to Astral, who seemed to not share the young Meister's enthusiasm. "Thanks a bunch for sticking your neck out for me and getting Lord Death to get rid of that tardy!"

"Somehow," Astral muttered, pulling up a textbook from under the desk, "I don't think it'll be your last."

"Prob'ly not." Yuma chuckled as he rubbed at the back of his head. "You totally missed it though! These two guys took on the professors, and the fight was so awesome!" Though as Yuma thought, a confused look overcame him, and he tilted his head somewhat. "Hey, so what did you and Lord Death talk about?"

Before Astral could attempt to give any sort of response, Droite spoke. "Alright class, now if you turn to page 5 in your textbook--"

"Crap!" Yuma muttered as he hurriedly reached under his desk for the textbook that was there, opening it to the page Droite said. "Well, welcome to the DWMA, Astral." With that, Yuma pulled a journal and pencil out of his bag, and began to scribble notes from both the book and Droite's verbal lecture.

"Yes..." Astral murmured somewhat sullenly, too quiet for Yuma to notice, as he too began to take notes in his journal. "I guess so."

* * *

Eliphas grimaced as he held his side, his back leaned against a cold stone wall. His breathing came slow and heavy, like all the energy had been sapped from him. With a shaky exhale, he sat himself up straight, a seethe leaving him as he did so. He was just so tired...

Just as he allowed himself to take a breather and rest his eyes for just a moment, the door to the room he was trapped in opened wide, light pouring into the dark room. Eliphas groaned and squinted, his eyes trying to adjust to the light that now invaded his holdings.

Two dark, mist covered figures stood in the doorway, one significantly shorter than the other. The short one was around the same size as his son Astral, perhaps a little smaller, whereas the larger of the two was as tall as the doorway, much like Eliphas himself.

Eliphas forced a neutral face, doing his best to hide his pain from his captors, but to no avail, as the taller of the two figures extended a hand in his direction, and all Eliphas felt as he rose into the air was a searing pain throughout his body. A scream ripped from his mouth that sounded inhuman, it feeling like thousands upon thousands of burning knives were stabbing at every part of him, inside and out.

"Tell me where the boy went!" Came the distorted sounding voice from the taller figure. "Tell me and I will end your pain." At that, the taller figure dropped their hand, Eliphas dropping harshly onto the stone floor, the pain from that being nothing compared to the haunting pain of a few moments ago.

Struggling to sit up, Eliphas spat in the figures' direction. "I don't know where Astral is." He lied, grimacing fiercely, "And even if I did, I'd never tell you."

It was then the smaller figure chuckled, the sound light yet coy. "Maybe we can't find him," they began as they looked to the taller figure, their voice in no way distorted, "because he's dared to go where no _witch_ would go, but where _humans_ flock." The smaller figure sounded conniving, their voice not deep at all, but still distinctively male. A place where Death awaits a witch."

The taller figure was visibly startled by that, but reformed their countenance quickly, staying silent at the smaller's words.

"Father?" Asked the smaller.

"Where Death awaits a witch..." The taller repeated, looking down at the smaller. "You can't possibly mean..." The taller looked towards Eliphas then, walking into the room and grabbing the wizard by the neck of his garb, raising him up to look him in the eye; Eliphas's heterochromatic teal and beige eyes beong met with black mist surrounded red and blue heterochromatic eyes. "You would really send your only child, the last vestige of the Astral Clan, to the doorstep of Death and his pitiful Meisters?" Eliphas tensed at that, the tall figure's eyes widening at the tell. "You did, didn't you?"

"I wouldn't dare!" Eliphas snapped, his hand raised to grasp at the hand that held him up. "You think I would send my son to that... that witch-killing Shinigami? It would be a death sentence, without question!"

"Untrue." Came the voice of the smaller figure, taking a step into the room. "Not too long ago, Death took a child under his wing, the child of Medusa Gorgon. They became an official Meister at Death's Academy, and assisted in the destruction of their own mother." 

"It wouldn't be the first time a wizard has defected to the Shinigami's faction... Recall Eibon." The taller figure mused. "You would really risk such a fate for your own son, that you would keep him from me in such a way?" The taller figure asked, sounding amused. 

"Even if he was at Death's doorstep, I'd rather him be a tool of Death than a tool of yours!" Eliphas roared, jerking himself out of the tall figure's grasp. He sadly, however, was still too weak to support himself standing, and fell in a crumped heap to the floor below, coughing as he tried to push himself up.

"Pathetic." Proclaimed the tall figure. "Your son showed an amazing ineptitude in the magical arts, so I give him a chance at greatness, to be _my_ personal spellbook, and this is how the two of you repay me." The figure kicked Eliphas as he was down, knocking him into the wall. "Disobedience. Disrespect. An inability to show gratitude for the gift placed upon him."

"You murdered a witch for her soul and _experimented_ on my _son!_ We owe you nothing!" Eliphas croaked out, pushing himself up onto his knees. 

The tall figure scoffed, before turning to look at the smaller figure. "Boy." The smaller figure turning to attention. "Delve into the various branches of the DWMA. Start with Death City and expand your search from there. We _will_ find him."

"Yes, Father." With that, the smaller figure turned and disappeared, but the mist that accompanied them stayed put, only to shortly thereafter float towards the taller figure, shrouding him further.

"You might not live to regret this." The tall figure threatened, turning towards the door. As he reached it, he stopped only when he heard Eliphas speak.

"I know who you are."

The tall figure stopped at that, turning on their heel to look at Eliphas. "Oh?"

"It's taken me this long..." Eliphas continued, falling backwards off his knees and onto his behind, struggling to stay conscious. "...but I've figured it out." Eliphas swallowed harshly, raising a dark hand to brush his blond hair out of the way of his face. "The Witchtext comprised of blocks... the hatred of my clan... the desire to use _my son_ of all the individuals in the world, to torture and torment into a tool of yours... I know who you are."

"And pray tell, who am I?"

"My clan thought they'd killed your clan off..." Eliphas continued, "How unfortunate to see they've failed... Don Thousand."

At that, the black mist dissipated from the tall figure's body, revealing Don Thousand underneath the shroud, dressed in a long purple and black garb that fell to his ankles. On his chest was the same emblem that was on Astral's weapon form's book cover, the warped Fleur-de-lis with the gem at the center: The ensignia of the Barian Clan.

The mist however, did not disappear. In fact, it shifted in the air, and eventually took form at Don Thousand's side, Eliphas gasping at the human-esque form. "A-Astral?"

"Don't be a fool, Eliphas." Don Thousand spoke, his long blond hair flowing behind him. "You've yet to be formerly introduced to one of my sons." 

The boy chuckled darkly. He looked almost identical to Astral in terms of shape, but had his differences. For one, whereas Astral was dark-skinned with white hair, this boy was fair-skinned, with pitch black hair. His eyes, like Astral's were heterochromatic, but instead of gold and silver, this boy's eyes were gold and black.

"This child is my 96th attempt at creating life through magic..." Don Thousand explained. "I've taken to calling him Black Mist."

"Through magic...?" Eliphas questioned. "Why does he look like--"

"Yes, it's been a tough task," Don Thousand interrupted, "but it keeps the bloodline pure. He is 100% my son, my blood, my magic."

"And the other, the other child?" Eliphas asked, looking towards the door where the shorter figure had been.

Don Thousand tsked and shook his head. "Where's the fun in that, Eliphas? I'm not just going to tell you everything you want to know." Don Thousand looked down at Black Mist then. "Come now, boy. Go join your brother in finding Astral."

"Yes, Father." Came Black Mist's response. Black Mist left the room then, leaving only Don Thousand and Eliphas alone.

"Maybe I shall keep you alive, for now." Don Thousand murmured. "I'll need a bargaining chip with Astral to get him to do as I say once he's back in my possession." With that, Don Thousand left the room, locking Eliphas away yet again in darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whooee this one was long. almost 5,000 words this chapter. Its amazing what I can do when avoiding homework and projects.


	5. Friend or Foe: Who Will You Be?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the first day of class progresses, some of the students forge new friendships, while others take time for themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this was so late! I know I said at least one update a month, but school became alot to handle, and then finals week was here before I knew it, and then Christmas and hoo boy, I got stressed out and this kinda suffered for it, and I apologize.

Droite's lecture went on longer than Ryoga would have liked, and frankly, the young Meister was ready to call the school day quits already, despite it only being the first class of the day. But he knew he'd never hear the end of it from his sister if he cut school on the first day, so he decided to stick it out for now, begrudgingly so. 

As Droite ended her lecture, Ryoga gathered his stuff, and heard Durbe and Rio chattering away beside him. The details of their conversation, however, fell deaf on his ears when his attention was caught by Droite walking over to Yuma and Astral, speaking with them about something. Ryoga sneered at the action, watching as Yuma nodded and looked to that other kid, - Astral, he believed the name was - smiling brightly.

That doofy grin... what an annoyance.

With an exhale, Ryoga slung his backpack over his shoulder and began making his way out of the colosseum like seating, Durbe and Rio soon quick to follow. The three of them walked together towards their next class, a class on the history of weapons and Meisters, taught by some weird zombie teacher named Sid Barrett. That lecture drug on even longer than Droite and Gauche's class, and by the time _that_ class ended, Ryoga felt braindead. 

Classes were never his thing, _school_ was never his thing. This wasn't a new development; it had always been this way - but he'd never been part of a school like _this_ , where he truly wanted to be there, but not have to go through all the book stuff. He wanted to fight, wanted to go on missions, collect souls, be Meister to a Death Scythe! Not stewing in a class, scribbling down notes that weren't even going to help on the battlefield!

As the trio headed to their third class, Ryoga huffed and turned to face his sister. "I'm taking an early lunch."

At that, Durbe blinked, frowning in confusion as he asked, "What?"

Ryoga looked to Durbe then, glaring at him slightly before repeating himself. "I said, I'm taking an early lunch." 

"Ryoga," Rio said warningly, "You promised you'd stay at least the first day." She folded her arms then, tapping her foot against the ground impatiently, displeasure radiating off of her.

"I didn't say I was leaving the _campus_ ," Ryoga said as he began walking away from them, raising a hand in goodbye. "Just taking an early lunch. See ya."

He could hear Rio huff in anger behind him, and could make out Durbe's voice trying to calm her down, but as he walked further into the crowd of students that hustled and bustled towards their next classes, their voices were drowned out by the clamor of other students, until Ryoga could hear his partners no more.

It wasn't like he was playing hooky for the rest of the day, he told himself as he made his way to his locker and pulled out a brown paper sack which housed his lunch, he was just skipping a class to recharge. He was tired of being surrounded by people, being subject to boring classes, and being cooped up for long periods of time. Even as he made his way onto the courtyard, he still found himself surrounded by other students. Even as the bell rang, they clamored around in a circle, students murmuring to one another as they stayed stubbornly put, much to Ryoga's dismay.

So, not wanting to deal with whatever these students were up to, Ryoga simply turned and walked back into the school, intent on finding some place quiet to eat his lunch. As he meandered around the now empty halls, he came across a room with the word "Detention" labeled on the door. As he looked inside, he saw no one there. With a shrug he walked in, figuring he was going to end up here anyway if he got caught skipping class, he might as well use the empty room to his advantage.

As he settled in one of the seats, he opened his lunch sack to begin eating...

only to hear the earlier commotion from outside though the walls.

With a groan, Ryoga got out of his seat, and opened a window, looking outside to see just _what_ in the world was still going on after the bell had already rung. From this somewhat elevated angle, Ryoga could see just what, or rather _who_ the students were surrounding.

It was then Ryoga recognized two of the the three people in the center of the mass of students: the two guys from his first class: Alit and Gilag. The third person he didn't recognize: a young man with blond hair and green bangs, reminding Ryoga of a yellow strawberry. He wore a black jacket that flared out at the bottom almost like a cape, and white pants with clunky looking black boots.

Whereas the crowd of students were somewhat loud before, they soon came to a hush as the blond boy began speaking. "I don't have time for this nonsense."

"C'mon!" Alit's voice rang out loud and cheerful, Ryoga already figuring out what was happening. "It wouldn't hurt ya to humor me, would it? Let's just spar a bit and--"

"Alit," Ryoga watched as Gilag placed a hand on Alit's shoulder. "You know I got your back no matter what, but we _do_ have our own class we need to get to, just like he does. Can't this wait until after school?"

"Nah, we can do this now, c'mon, Gilag!"

"I told you," Came the blond's response, "I don't have time for this. I have a class I need to get to."

"But you're supposedly a two-star Meister!" Alit said, looking at the blond intently. "Can't you show us just a bit of your power?"

The blond opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off, as Sid's voice broke through the hushed murmurs of the crowd. "What's all this commotion about, you kids have class!" As Sid came into view, Ryoga recognized the young man standing next to him as Mizael, the guy from early this morning when they met up with Durbe.

"Now Kaito, what's this all about?" Sid asked the blond boy that had been talking with Alit.

Even from far away, Ryoga noticed the unamused look Kaito gave Mizael, before Kaito began to speak. Unfortunately, Kaito was speaking too soft for Ryoga to pick up from his vantage point, though it wasn't long before Sid's voice boomed over the courtyard. "For a duel to take place on campus during classroom hours, there must be a teacher present, and both parties must consent to a fight." Sid looked to Alit and Gilag then. "You two. You're offering a duel to Kaito?" 

Alit nodded his head yes, while Gilag shook his head slightly. Sid looked at the two opposing answers and spoke again. "I see." He then turned to Kaito, and asked, "Do you accept their challenge?"

"No."

Alit groaned at that and hung his head, Gilag patting his buddy on the shoulder as a comfort. 

"There will be no duel here," Sid's voice boomed, "Leave to your classes now or get sent to Detention for skipping class!"

Ryoga seethed at that remark, pulling away from the window and closing it before gathering his stuff. Time to get out of here before he got caught. With a huff, Ryoga left the detention room, climbing a flight of stairs as he ventured through the school, looking for a place to have his lunch. He soon came across the library, and peered inside. It was empty for the most part, only one or two students here and there, but before he could even take a step into the library, he noticed a sign: "No food!"

Well, shit.

He wasn't one to normally follow rules, - hell, he was skipping class already - but with his lunch being in a brown paper sack, there was no way he was gonna hide that crinkling. Time to find someplace else. 

Another twenty minutes passed, and another few flights of stairs were climbed before Ryoga found himself at the roof of the main part of the school; or at least, what he assumed was the roof. There were a bunch of trees up here, almost like someone had relocated a forest onto the top of the school.

As he walked around, he made his way to a curved ledge, that he assumed made a circle around the forest-y area, to prevent anyone from falling off. It was a decently wide ledge, one big enough for him to sit on and there still be room to scoot forward or backwards.

As he took his seat and opened his lunch, a easy breeze coursed through the trees, ruffling the leaves for just a moment, before settling down into silence again. Ryoga smirked. 

This place was perfect.

* * *

As the bell for lunch rang, students amassed into the cafeteria, having either brought their lunch from home, or getting a free lunch from the school. As Yuma and Astral made their way to the lunch room, their lunches in tow, Astral took notice of all the different students, and his expression soured. "The chances of us getting a seat without being surrounded by other students is not very high."

"Well, yeah," Yuma said, "You're supposed to get to know your classmates."

Astral looked to Yuma then, a frown on his face. "To be able to beat them later on?"

Yuma groaned and shook his head. "No, to make _friends."_

Astral's frown only grew. "Yuma, I'm not here to make friends."

Before Yuma could respond, he noticed a table with two seats open. Recognizing a few of the students sitting there from their first class, Yuma dragged Astral over - much to the young man's chagrin - and smiled. "Hi, I'm Yuma Tsukumo, and this is my partner Astral! Do you mind if we sit with yo--"

"Sorry!" Chirped a girl with an obviously forced smile. "Those seats are taken."

A boy at the table whispered to another boy, "Are those the two who're already working for Lord Dea--" 

The other boy hushed him and looked to Yuma and Astral. "Yeah, we have friends coming; they'll be here soon, they're just getting their lunch."

Astral looked absolutely unamused, whereas Yuma sheepishly smiled and thanked the group sitting there regardless, and made his way elsewhere. "Well, guess we'll just have to find somewhere else!" Yuma said. Though as he began to make his way to another table of first-years, they quickly filled the open spots they had, and not so discreetly began watching the pair of partners.

"I don't believe we're very welcome." Astral muttered to Yuma, who was beginning to take notice that most of the other first years were watching them.

Among them was Durbe and Rio, who were watching just to see what Astral and Yuma would do. They watched as Yuma looked around, whispered something to Astral, and then proceeded to sit at a lone table in the corner of the cafeteria, one within eyeshot of Durbe and Rio.

"Would you have let them sit here?" Durbe asked hushedly, picking at his school provided lunch.

"Of course," Rio answered as she turned to her home brought lunch, "Just because he's got the rest of the students in our year gossiping about their relationship with Lord Death doesn't mean I'm going to shun them. They might be useful allies in getting into Lord Death's good graces, after all." She took a sip of her water bottle and continued. "Maybe if we get teamed up with them, we'll go on better missions; get a higher rank faster."

Durbe blinked at her response, not having expected that answer. "I would have just let them sit here just to, you know, let them sit." He took a bite of his rice and after swallowing, continued to speak. "And possibly get to know that Astral guy somewhat better. There's something about him that interests me."

"You and the rest of the student body, apparently." Rio replied as her eyes scanned her fellow classmate's tables. Now that Yuma and Astral had found somewhere to sit, most eyes were mainly off them, though they weren't unsubjected to a few glances and stares from their fellow students every once in a while. "From what I can gather, the gossip's more focused around him than Yuma. No one saw him yesterday at orientation, but people saw Yuma there. In fact, people saw Yuma testing his compatibility with other weapons yesterday. Why do that if he already had a partner?"

Durbe gave a hum of acknowledgment and looked over at Yuma and Astral, who seemed to be discussing something rather hushedly themselves. "So he must have partnered with Astral just after that. And him rushing this morning... perhaps that was him rushing to see Lord Death and register with Astral as partners before school officially started?"

"Maybe." Rio agreed, looking over at the duo as well. "Maybe this whole thing about them being special because they were pardoned tardies by Lord Death is just all made up because we're letting our minds wander. Maybe they really are working for Lord Death, and everyone is right to speculate." She took a bite of her food and swallowed, before continuing. "Regardless, that just raises more questions: Where did Yuma meet Astral, if Astral wasn't at orientation? If he wasn't at orientation, was Astral even planning to come to the school in the first place? And if they just met, how compatible are they, really, as weapon and Meister?"

Before Durbe could comment, a familiar voice interrupted their conversation. "Well you two look rather deep in conversation. Should I leave?"

Durbe and Rio turned to look at the owner of the voice, both smiling. "Mizael." Durbe said. "No, no, you don't have to leave. Come, sit."

Mizael smirked at that and sat on Durbe's unoccupied side, setting his school provided lunch down before extending a hand to Rio. "I'm Mizael."

"So I've heard." Rio replied, taking Mizael's hand and shaking it. "My name is Rio. Durbe spoke of you this morning."

"Oh, really?" Mizael asked, beginning to pick at his rice.

Rio nodded in response, taking another sip of her water before speaking again. "He mentioned you two were childhood friends, and roommates. He also said you were a second year here."

"Which begs the question," Durbe began, setting his utensils down and looking to Mizael, "Why sit with us? Don't you want to sit with your team?"

Mizael gave a 'hmph' at that, arching a brow. "Trying to get rid of me, Durbe?"

"No, I'm just curious."

With a frown, Mizael spoke. "Half of my teammates went to the library instead of eating lunch, the other half are catching up with some friends of theirs that they missed over the break. So I thought I'd come and check on you and your partners." It was then that Mizael shifted somewhat, his frown only growing as he realized Durbe was short a partner. "Where's your other partner?"

Both Rio and Durbe sighed, Rio being the one to speak up. "Ryoga skipped out on our last class, and we don't know where he is. He said he'd still be on campus, but I wouldn't be surprised if he left."

"Speaking of which," Durbe began, turning to look at Rio now, "does that happen often? It seems like this wasn't the first time he's pulled that."

"You're right, it's not." Rio made a frustrated noise, sighing again as she sat up straighter. "He used to skip alot back in public school, hung out with alot of delinquents, tried going by 'Shark'. I thought being here would change that, but apparantly not."

"He better stop soon." Mizael commented, before taking a bite of his rice. "Teachers will get wise to him skipping out on classes." Both Durbe and Rio nodded at that, before the three turned to their lunches. There was a few moments of silence among them before Mizael spoke again. "So what were you two talking about before I showed up?"

Durbe swallowed his food before speaking, "We were talking about a couple of students in our year who may or may not already have dealings with Lord Death."

"Really?" Mizael asked.

Rio and Durbe both nodded, Rio speaking this time. "Yes, they're the two lone students, sitting in the corner table over there." 

The three of them looked over to Yuma and Astral, only to see Astral gather his lunch, exhange a few words with Yuma, and leave the table, leaving a lone, downtrodden Yuma.

Mizael frowned at that, looking over to Durbe and Rio. "Are they supposed to be partners?" Both first-years nodded in response, and Mizael shook his head. "What a way to treat your partner. This is why I prefer to work alone."

That got Rio's attention. "Work alone?" She asked, leaning in somewhat. "You don't have a partner?"

Mizael shook his head. "No, I'm my own Meister."

Rio's eyes widened at that, surprise evident in her expression. "I've never heard of a weapon being their own Meister. What kind of weapon are you?"

At that; Mizael extended his arm along the length of the table, his arm glowing as it shifted into weapon form - a metal whip sectioned by rods and rings, decreasing in size the further down the whip went. "I'm a type of Chinese whip, a Qilinbian."

"That's amazing..." Rio looked to Durbe then, as Mizael's arm shifted back into its human form. "Do you think there's anyone in our year who's their own Meister?"

"I don't think so," Durbe admitted, "But there is another student in Mizael's year who's their own Meister."

 _"Kaito Tenjo."_ Mizael grumbled as he took a bite of his lunch. At the mention of Kaito, however, Mizael's eyes lit up, looking towards Durbe and Rio as he swallowed his food. "Speaking of Kaito, there were a couple students from your year who tried dueling him in the front of the school earlier. Kaito turned it down, but there was still a large crowd outside."

"Really?" Rio asked.

"Yes, they were challenged by--" Mizael cut himself off when he took notice of two students walking by, looking for seats. "By those two."

Durbe and Rio turned their heads to see who Mizael was talking about, only to be met with Alit and Gilag's figures. "Them?" Durbe asked with a sigh, shaking his head. "They fought with Professors Droite and Gauche in our first class, now they're picking fights with students?"

Mizael and Rio watched as they began to head towards Yuma, Rio commenting, "They're gonna go sit with him?"

"Well," Durbe spoke, turning to also watch Alit and Gilag approach Yuma. "depending on how long Alit was in the Nurse's office for, he and Gilag might not be privy to all the gossip about Yuma and Astral."

They watched as Alit and Gilag spoke to Yuma, the duo sitting down shortly afterwards. "I guess so." Rio replied, before turning to Mizael. "So tell me more about you and this Kaito guy."

* * *

A small, displeased hum left Yuma, who sat on his own in the cafeteria, slowly eating his home brought lunch. No one wanted him to sit with them, his partner had just left him, and now he was on his own.

He'd been unaware of all the glances his and Astral's way until Astral had pointed it out to him, and now he felt like an animal at the zoo, being monitored and judged for who knew what reason.

It wasn't long though, before a voice broke him out of his depressed musings.

"Hey, I know you."

Yuma looked up at the voice, recognizing Alit and Gilag standing at opposite side of his table. "Hey, you're those two guys who fought Professor Gauche."

Alit and Gilag grinned at that, Alit responding in kind, "You're the guy who showed up late to first period."

Yuma gave a sheepish laugh at that, before Gilag spoke. "Mind if we sit with ya?"

Blinking once as he took a second and processed Gilag's words, Yuma nodded cautiously, "Ye-Yeah, you can sit here."

"Thanks!" Came the dual replies, Alit and Gilag both giving Yuma a grin. As the duo the took two seats across from Yuma, Alit asked, "So where's your partner?"

Yuma let out a sigh, resting his elbow on the table and letting his head rest in his hand, "He left to eat lunch elsewhere." Yuma took a bite of his rice ball, continuing to speak with his mouth full. "Said 'e didm't 'ike 'avin evrryone starin' at 'im."

"Staring?" Alit asked, turning to look over his shoulder only to see a few students here and there quickly turn their heads away and suddenly become very preoccupied with their lunches. "Why are people staring at you?"

Swallowing before speaking, Yuma spoke again. "Astral thinks its because Lord Death pardoned our tardies today; Thinks that's giving the class the wrong idea." He replied, looking downtrodden.

"Woah, Lord Death pardoned your tardy?" Gilag asked with widened eyes, looking over Yuma.

"Yeah, don't you remember...?" Yuma asked, before a look of realization came over him. "That's right! You guys weren't in the room when it happened. You'd already left for the nurse's office." Yuma looked over to Alit then, grimacing slightly. "How are you feeling, by the way? That last attack looked like alot to take."

Alit grinned and patted his chest twice with his fist. "It takes alot more than that to keep me down!"

Yuma laughed at that, his smile growing. "I'll bet. The two of you were awesome to watch!"

Gilag chuckled at that, "Be careful, you're gonna give us big egos." He said, using a hand to ruffle Alit's hair. "This one don't need a big ego, he's already got fightin' always on the brain."

"Hey!" Alit exclaimed, shoving Gilag's hand off of him. "We're at the DWMA, it's only healthy to wanna fight, yeah?" After patting down his hair so that it didn't look that messed with, Alit turned back to Yuma, who looked amused at Alit's and Gilag's interactions. "I don't think I caught your name."

"My name's Yuma," Yuma replied, sitting up and extending a hand across the table. "Yuma Tsukumo."

"Nice to meet ya, Yuma!" Alit exclaimed, happily taking Yuma's hand. "I'm Alit, and this is my partner, Gilag!" 

Gilag was quick to shake Yuma's hand after Alit was done, the taller male giving Yuma a smile. "Good ta meet ya."

"So who's your partner again, Astral, you said?" Alit asked. "I can't put a face to the name."

"You kinda met him already." Yuma said, before taking another bite of his rice ball, this time swallowing before speaking, "He was the student that was coming into the classroom as you guys were leaving for the nurse's office."

Both Alit and Gilag thought back, before speaking in alternation.

"White hair?"

"Dark skin?"

"Weird colored eyes?"

Yuma nodded at both of them, affirming their bare bones description of Astral. "Yeah, that's him. Though his eyes aren't weird, just... different."

"Yeah, you're right." Alit agreed as he took a bite of rice from his school provided lunch. "So why did Lord Death pardon you?"

"I don't know." Yuma replied honestly. "I think Astral put in a good word for me when talking with Lord Death this morning, but he wouldn't confirm or deny it."

"Why was he talking with Lord Death this morning?" Gilag asked, causing Yuma to frown and give a hum of thought. Perhaps he shouldn't be too descriptive in what was going on. After all, if word got out that Astral was the son of a wizard, who knew how ostracized they'd be?

"He was signing up last minute for the school." Yuma admitted, "He missed orientation yesterday, but wanted to come, so he asked Lord Death to enroll him. Apparently Lord Death accepted him."

"So if he missed orientation, how'd you two meet?" Gilag asked, taking a bite of his food. "Did you know each other before yesterday?"

Yuma swallowed hard. Lying wasn't his forté, so perhaps he could get away with not telling the whole truth? "Well, Astral showed up too late to orientation, didn't get to participate, ya know? And I didn't get matched up with a partner yesterday, so Lord Death introduced us."

"Woah." Gilag and Alit's dual surprise was evident to Yuma, before Gilag spoke. "Imagine that, Lord Death introducing you to your partner. What a cool first meeting."

Desperate to get the conversation off of him and Astral, Yuma turned the tables on them. "What about you guys? In class you said you'd both known each other for a while. How'd you meet?"

Alit and Gilag both grinned brightly at that, Alit being the one to speak up. "We met as kids. I was almost seven, and Gilag was ten. My dad enrolled me in a kid's wrestling class that Gilag's mom ended up being the teacher for."

"Yeah," Gilag continued, "When pairing off kids, Alit immediately ran to be because I was the biggest kid, and practically demanded to spar with me. I went easy on him because he was so little, both in stature and age, and he ended up whupping me. I was so angry I lunged at him after the match was over, and he ended up managing a good hit on me in return."

"His mom had to separate us after that;" Alit admitted, looking amused with himself. "I had a black eye and Gilag had a generously sized bruise at gut level." Alit took a bite of his lunch before continuing. "His mom made him apologize twice, once immediately after it happened, and again after my dad saw my black eye. The first time I wanted nothing to do with him, but the second time, I ended up asking to fight him again the next class, which our parents were initially against."

"So we spent time together before and after class, and eventually became close, like brothers." Gilag looked content with their explanation, chuckling at the memories. "When we eventually ended up sparring against each other in class, I didn't hold back, and my mom had to call it a draw."

Yuma grinned brightly at their story, before doing some mental math and asking, "Wait, so if Gilag is three years older than you, how did you end up being first years together?"

"When I realized I could become a weapon, there was only one partner I wanted." Gilag explained. "So I talked to Alit, and we agreed to enter the DWMA together. But I was concerned with the age difference that we'd get put into different years. So I came and talked to Lord Death a couple years ago, and be basically said that while most people enter the academy at thirteen or fourteen, which is the youngest you can be to enter, he'd never actually set an age limit to the entry of first years." Taking a moment to take a swig of his drink, Gilag continued. "So I could enter when Alit turned thirteen, and still be considered a first year, if I didn't mind being a bit older than the rest of the students."

"So you're what, sixteen?" Yuma asked.

"Nah, he's seventeen." Alit responded. "And I just turned thirteen a few months ago. What about you and Astral?"

Yuma blinked at that, and gave a thoughtful look, before sighing. "Well, I'm also thirteen, but... I don't know how old Astral is."

"You two really haven't had the chance to talk much, have you?" Gilag asked with a frown.

Yuma shook his head and huffed, "Maybe if he were still _here_ it'd be different."

"Where'd he go, anyway?" Alit inquired, looking around. "I don't see him at another table in the cafeteria."

"I don't know." Yuma replied honestly. "He said he wanted to be alone, so I can only guess where he went."

"Well, he's missing out." Alit quickly downed the rest of his lunch, standing up from the table. "C'mon! Wanna head outside so Gilag and I can show you some of our moves?"

 _"Alit._ Let the guy finish his food before you start pushin' him to do stuff." Gilag chided, pulling his partner back down into his chair.

Yuma laughed and nodded. "Sure, but I probably won't be any fun since my partner isn't here. Can't fight you by myself, after all."

"Yeah, that's true..." Alit muttered, before smiling brightly, "Speaking of fighting, lemme tell you about this guy that wouldn't fight us today during class!"

* * *

Astral exhaled as he climbed yet another flight of stairs, heading up to the campus's main rooftop. He'd wanted someplace empty to eat, and while his room seemed like as good an idea as any, he knew Yuma would look for him there first, and the last thing he wanted was any sort of human interaction right now.

As he reached the rooftop, he was met with the serene surroundings of trees and greenery, lush with foliage and scented heavily of wood.

It reminded him of home.

A pang of worry shot through his heart as his thoughts travelled back to his still captive father, not knowing how he was, or what their captors were still doing to him. Were they punishing his father for helping him escape? Or leaving him to die because of it? Or worse, he could already be--

Astral snapped his eyes shut at the thought, turning his head away slightly as he recalled his last moments before arriving at the DWMA's doorstep.

He remembered a short figure shrouded in black mist, chasing after him as his father and the taller figure lobbed spells at each other. He remembered his father screaming, "Run!", and getting hit in the stomach with an electric current forged by the magic of the taller shrouded figure. He remembered wanting to run back and help his dad, but not being able to, as the smaller figure was hot on his heels.

He remembered running, running, running, but not recognizing anything as he ran. Where was he? Where were they? 

The smaller shrouded figure had some sort of weapon, Astral remembered seeing a sword like shape swinging at him when he looked over his shoulder to see if the figure was still following him.

He remembered his father's words, from a long time ago: _"Should anything ever happen to me, head for Lord Death, he will take care of you."_

At the time, Lord Death was but a name, just a thing that Astral knew nothing about. But as the years went by, his father dealt more and more with Lord Death, the shinigami becoming a familiar face and name to Astral.

But at that moment, as he was running for his life, it was the only salvation he could find. He remembered his mind being blank as he ran, the adrenaline coursing through him and the sound of blood pumping in his ears, until the image of the DWMA popped into his mind, and the next thing he knew, he was in the courtyard outside the academy, drained and exhausted, but in one piece.

He remembered hearing a voice call out something, and who he eventually came to know as Sid kneeling down and looking him over, but by that point Astral remembered little to nothing, the lack of energy and power forcing him to pass out.

Astral clenched his fist and shook his head. He was forced to experience this, forced to live day by day not knowing whether or not his father was alive, and all Yuma was worried about was making _friends?!_ He knew the Meister didn't actually care about him, and had only wanted a weapon partner, and yet he fell for his words back in his room this morning, and was now dawdling about this damned academy while his father's life was in the balance, and--

"Hey."

Astral was pulled out of his musings by the sound of another voice. Looking up, he was met with a boy around his age, with shoulder length purple hair, and royal blue eyes, watching him unamusedly. His voice had been sprinkled with just as much unamusment as his gaze contained.

Apparently, in his reminiscences of past events, Astral had been walking along the perimeter of the roof until running into this person. Not willing to put up with whatever this was, Astral snipped at the boy. "What?"

"You're ruining my lunch." The boy stated, motioning to his paper sack. "Leave."

"Look," Astral snapped, "I don't care about you, or your lunch. I'm not in the mood to deal with you."

That got the boy frowning deeply, staring at Astral before a look of recognition overcame him, and he scowled. "You. You're partners with that Yuma kid."

Astral frowned himself, his head tilting slightly at the accusation. "And if I am?"

The boy got up then, grabbing his lunch and beginning to walk away. He stopped though, looking over his shoulder at Astral. "I already have plans for him. Just know that I'm coming for you both, and I don't care if you're working with Lord Death already or not; I intend to beat you down into the ground, where you both belong." With that, the young man took his leave.

Astral was somewhat dumbfounded, not understanding what had just happened. Had he... been _threatened_ by some random kid? Because of _Yuma?_

With a frown, Astral set his lunch up on the ledge the young man had been sitting on, and began eating.

... Maybe joining the DWMA was not the best idea after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look at that, an update before the year's end
> 
> and to make up for going so long without an update, its 5,600+ words long


	6. A Prelude to Training! The Ire of Ryoga Kamishiro!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With their first day halfway done, the second half of the day starts off with the students getting ready for the other half of their Combat Training: the Physical Portion!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry i've gone so long without an update, I started my last semester of college and suddenly its finals week next week and thats been eating up so much time.
> 
> but with summer coming up, i should have plenty of time to work on new chapters (hopefully!)
> 
> thank you for your patience!

It wasn't long before the school bell tolled, signaling the end of lunch. Students who hadn't already put away their lunches began doing so, as others began to head towards their next classes. 

Mizael had given Rio and Durbe a single nod of thanks before taking his leave, walking towards his next class. As the Weapon duo conversed and walked to their next class, Rio caught a flash of purple from the corner of her eye, and turned her head, before spotting her twin. "Ryoga!"

Ryoga was noticeably in a sour mood, causing Durbe to frown slightly at the sight of him. Wordlessly, Ryoga made his way to his partners, one hand in his pockets, the other holding a strap on his backpack. Blue eyes glanced from Rio's pink to Durbe's gray, looking back and forth between the two of them, his blatantly sour mood seeming to grow even more sour upon seeing the dual looks of concern on his partners' faces. "... What?"

"What's up your butt?" Rio asked snarkily.

Ryoga frowned deeply, giving a _'tsk'_ and folding his arms. "Nothing."

"Don't lie to me!" Rio said, thwacking his shoulder with her hand. "You come back in a worse mood than you were in before, and you don't expect me to notice?"

"Maybe you should keep your nose outta my business!"

"Maybe you should learn to be nice to your sister!"

As the two argued, they were getting more in each other's faces, Durbe looking somewhat uncomfortable. For a moment, he was glad to be an only child, if _this_ was what having a sibling was like. "Ok, ok, let's take a breath and calm down." He said gently, holding his hands up to show he meant no ill-will.

Ryoga glared at Durbe then, however, a scoff leaving him. "Stay out of it, nerd!"

Rio's hands went to her hips. "Hey, be nice to him, he's your partner!"

"So?! I don't know a damn thing about him!"

"Maybe if you actually cared about someone other than yourself--"

Durbe buried his face in his hands, shaking his head. He hadn't meant to make their arguing worse! They were making a scene, drawing stares from fellow students who were making their way to their classes, and now he was an accessory to it all! He was debating as to whether or not he should try again to stop them, when a familiar voice interrupted them.

"Yeesh, you kids got alot of energy." 

Rio and Ryoga stopped arguing then, instead turning to look and see who interrupted them, only to blink as they saw Gauche watching them with his hands on his hips.

"Professor Gauche, we just--" Durbe tried to explain, but was shut down by the tall man.

"You'd be better off saving that energy for your next class." Gauche moved a hand to scratch at the back of his head with an exasperated sigh. "You're all headed to the physical portion of your Combat Training class, aren'tcha?"

Ryoga's eyes widened and a grin appeared on his face. "If that's my next class, then _yes."_

Rio rolled her eyes then, shaking her head at her brother. "That's all you care about, isn't it?"

"Now, now!" Came a new voice, the three teens and Gauche turning their heads as they heard students awed murmuring in the halls, watching as Lord Death himself strode down the hall. "Having a healthy desire for the more physical aspect of the course is a good thing, Ms. Kamishiro!" Passerbys stopped and watched as Lord Death made his way to the group of 4, curious as to what he'd do next. But before Lord Death spoke to them, he spoke aloud. "Everyone get along to class now! Don't wanna rack up any tardies, do ya?"

With that, the ongoing crowd of folk began to scurry to their classes upon Lord Death's remark, soon leaving the group of teens and Gauche before Lord Death.

"Now, what's the issue here?" He asked, a chipper tone to his voice.

Gauche sighed and folded his arms. "These two were causing a ruckus, so I thought I'd put a stop to it and get them to class."

"Ah, I see!" Lord Death put a hand to his chin, and leaned in somewhat, causing the trio of students to step back. "Well, I'd ask _why_ you were arguing, but I suppose such is the nature of siblings, hmm?" Rio and Ryoga both shared a glance at that, before looking away from each other and to Lord Death. "Not only that, but I'm afraid Professor Gauche is right, you do have a class you need to get to!"

Lord Death removed his hand from his chin, and placed it instead on Ryoga's head. "And we're not gonna skip _this_ class this time, are we, Mr. Kamishiro?"

Ryoga went wide-eyed at that, jaw dropping somewhat slack as Lord Death ruffled his hair. "Wha--? How--"

"So let's get to class and do our best, shall we?!" With that, Lord Death turned to Gauche. "By the way, Gauche. I need to talk to you about two of your next students!"

As Lord Death and Gauche began talking, Rio snickered at her brother. "You got caught."

"Shut up!" Ryoga whispered hushedly, glancing over at his sister. "How'd he even know about that, anyway?"

Durbe stayed silent, Mizael's words from lunch playing back in his head. _Teachers will get wise to him skipping out on classes._ Durbe couldn't help but wonder if Lord Death had some sort of surveillance or something on the school, or if Ryoga was careless enough to get spotted by the Headmaster of all people.

Though before the trio began to head to class, they overheard some of what Lord Death was saying to Gauche. 

"...and don't let the two of them participate in any class combat yet."

"Understood, Lord Death."

"Young Astral will probably resent you for it, but for now, it must be done."

"Wait, what?!"

Lord Death and Gauche turned their head at Ryoga's outburst, the purple haired teen looking angry. "Why aren't Yuma and Astral going to combat train with us?!" He'd been so looking forward to beating them into the ground...! His hands curled into fists as he spoke, gritting his teeth as well.

Lord Death didn't look fazed in the slightest, unlike Gauche, who frowned and said, "Listen, kid. Don't speak to Lord Death like that, unless you want to get expell--"

"Now, now, Gauche." Lord Death patted the professor's back. "Let me handle this. You take young miss Rio and young Durbe on to class and don't count Ryoga Kamishiro tardy, ok?"

Gauche looked at Lord Death then, and exhaled through his nose. "Yes sir, Lord Death." With that, Gauche waved Rio and Durbe over. "Come on, squirts." Rio and Durbe were quick to obey, walking down ththe hallway with Gauche, Durbe looking back momentarily as he did, before focusing on the path ahead of him.

"Now," Lord Death began, "What's got you so worked up over Yuma and Astral?"

Ryoga scoffed. "I just want them to learn their place."

"I see." Lord Death placed a hand on Ryoga's back, urging the young Meister to walk alongside him. "And, why do you feel like they need to learn this?"

Ryoga was silent then, not out of lack of answer, but because he knew better than to go touting off about his thoughts to the headmaster of all people.

"No response? Very well."

"Why do you treat them special?" Ryoga snapped. "Excused tardies, excused lessons... Why do they get special treatment?"

"My boy, it's no special treatment." Lord Death explained, the chipper tone back in his voice. "I can't punish students for taking remedial lessons."

"Remedial lessons?" Ryoga echoed. "But it's the first week of school!"

"I understand, but both boys barely passed their exams into the school!" Lord Death rose a finger to where his mouth would be. "Keep that hush-hush for me, would you?" He lowered his finger then, continuing to walk Ryoga down the hall. "Due to strenuous issues from both sides of the team, they underperformed on their exams. But, I took that into consideration when accepting them into the school. Should all have been well on all fronts, then they would have done much better than they did! Astral is a bright young mind, and Yuma is as energetic as they come! You'd do well to befriend them."

A bright young mind and energetic, huh? All that translated to for Ryoga was a nerd and an annoyance. Both weak. But before he could say anything in response, he realized where Lord Death was leading him, or rather, had led him to.

Lord Death opened the door to the classroom with gusto, and called out, "Yoo-hoo!" Ryoga blinked as he took the gazes of the students in what was supposed to be his current class, and suddenly felt very scrutinized. He gave a _'tch!'_ and turned away from their gazes, only for Lord Death to continue speaking. "I have a wayward straggler here! Don't mark him tardy, he and I were just getting to know each other!"

Students in the classroom muttered and mingled with each other. Another first year getting buddy-buddy with Lord Death? Another new point of gossip for them to expand on.

"Go on and take a seat, kiddo!" Lord Death patted Ryoga's back, and the young male scoffed, shrugging off Lord Death's hand before heading to his seat. "I'll see you all later then!" With that, Lord Death popped out of the doorframe and disappeared.

Before Ryoga could make it to his seat, however, Droite spoke up. "Alright, back to business. Everyone, follow Professor Gauche to the combat area. Astral, Yuma. You'll stay here with me."

Ryoga noticed the displeasure on Astral's face, and couldn't help but silently echo the sentiment. He wanted Astral and Yuma to be in their combat training so that he could give them a proper piece of his mind! How could he do that while they were stuck in here, doing remedial lessons?!

With a scowl, he followed Gauche and the rest of the students out to the combat area.

* * *

As the students left the classroom, Yuma couldn't help but frown, wanting to go with them. After a moment, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and looked up to see Alit standing by the edge of the table. 

"We'll kick some butt out there for ya till ya get in, alright?" Alit said, smiling bright, extending a fist.

Yuma smiled bright as well, extending his own fist so that he could fist bump the other Meister. "Yeah, we'll see you out there soon!"

With that, Alit left Yuma, running to catch up with Gilag.

"New friends of yours?" Astral asked dryly.

"Yeah!" Yuma was quick to perk up, this being the first Astral had spoken to him since leaving him by himself at lunch. "They're the guys who were leaving as you were comin' in during our first class. They looked super strong, and were fightin' the teachers before you showed up!"

"Interesting." Despite his word choice, Astral sounded anything but interested, causing Yuma's energy to deflate somewhat.

"Alright you two," Droite interjected, causing the pair to sit up in attention, "you're going to follow me."

Yuma and Astral shared a confused look, before silently obeying, walking with Droite out of the classroom and out of the school building. Yuma winced at the brightness of the midday sun, laughing high in the sky, and he and Astral continued to follow Droite to a what reminded Yuma of a gymnasium, but shrunken down.

"Come on in." Droite opened the door to the mini-gym, Astral and Yuma quickly following her in. Yuma looked around the plain room, noting only 3 doors: one to leave, one for storage, and one for a bathroom.

"This is one of the few singular training rooms we have here at the DWMA," Droite began, waving a hand towards the room. "Normally, students reserve these rooms for training outside of class time, be it during their free periods, or outside of school hours. Luckily, no one has reserved any of them this period, and that should remain so for a while."

"Umm," Yuma raised a hand. "Why are we here?"

"Because Lord Death doesn't want it getting out just yet that one of his students is a wizard's child." Astral said somewhat bitterly, his gaze not leaving Droite's. "Or that said child is a spellbook. Is that right?"

"No," Droite replied, her gaze meeting Astral's unjarringly. "It's not."

Astral frowned slightly then, folding his arms. "Then what's the reason?"

"First of all, you're not the first child of magic that Lord Death has taken under his protection. He openly had the child of Medusa Gorgon as a student, and no one questioned him over it. Not only that, but the child's weapon was their own blood, blacked by repeated experiments performed on them by their own mother, so take that chip off of your shoulder." Droite frowned as she spoke, not liking Astral's current demeanor. Though at the mention if the child of a witch being experimented on by their own mother, Astral relented somewhat, leaning back slighyly anand not meeting Droite's gaze.

"Secondly, we're here mainly because we don't know the extent of your powers as a weapon. From what Lord Death has told us staff about your situation, when you and Yuma first tried your powers out, the light you produced was extremely intense." Droite sighed as she folded her arms, and continued. "We don't know if you're able to weaponize that light, or if you can produce other elements, but regardless, if it produces something as intense or more intense than the first time you tried your powers, and other students get harmed because of it?" Droite shook her head. "That wouldn't be ideal. So for the next couple of weeks, we'll be in here during physical training, working on both your power control, and your teamwork."

At the mention of teamwork, Yuma looked over to Astral with a smile on his face, though it faltered when Astral failed to even look back at him. He seemed to look lost in disappointed thought.

"So wait," Yuma asked, looking to Droite then. "What do the other students think we're doing?"

"Remedial lessons. That's the story Lord Death came up with." Droite unfolded her arms, placing one hand on her hip. "When the time comes, and you've both got ahold on the power you can exert, we explain the situation to not just your class, but every class. Everyone will know your identity, Astral, and those who are enrolled in the E.A.T. classes will be informed about the circumstances around your weapon form."

"E.A.T. classes? Eat classes?" Yuma asked.

Droite sighed. "The E.A.T. classes are your classes, the Especially Advanced Talent classes. You make up 10% of the students here at the DWMA."

At this, Astral frowned. "10%? What are the other 90%?"

Yuma looked at Droite expectantly, watching as she folded her arms again once more. "They make up the N.O.T. classes - the Normally Overcome Target classes. They mainly learn general studies, unlike your curriculum, which is centered around Phasmology and Soul Studies, the history of Weapons and Meisters, and the Battle Arts."

The two boys looked rather incredulous then, and Droite sighed. "Speaking of the Battle Arts..." She clapped her hands once, then stared directly at the two partners. "It's time to get started."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its not as long as past chapters! I'll try to be better about that next time!


	7. Alit vs Ryoga! A Battle of Fire and Ice?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's combat training time, and Alit and Ryoga can't wait to get started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> congrats to me, i graduated from college; congrats to you, you get two updates in one month, amazingly

As Gauche led his students towards the combat area, Alit couldn't help but feel a pep in step. Finally, the class he'd been waiting for! No more having to sit in stuffy classrooms and listen to boring lectures, _this_ was the good stuff! Looking up at Gilag as they walked, Alit smirked at seeing the excited expression on his partner's face, knowing that Gilag felt the same way he did. With a nudge to Gilag's side, Alit spoke as they walked. "Hey, Gilag - who do you think we're gonna fight first?"

"Prob'ly no one," Gilag said, causing Alit's expression to wither. "Since it's the first day, they're prob'ly gonna just keep partners together to work on gettin' to communicate with one another, getting to know 'em, ya know?" Alit huffed at that, knowing Gilag was more than likely right, but his expression picked up as Gilag continued, "But I hope we do end up gettin' to fight someone."

"Right?" Alit started jabbing at the air in front of him as he walked, like he was boxing with an invisible fighter. "I just can't wait."

Gilag chuckled at his partner's antics, and looked around at their class as they were walking. "If ya did hafta choose someone to fight, who would ya pick?"

"Ideally?" Alit began, ceasing his jabs to look up at Gilag, "I'd like to fight Professor Gauche again." He admitted, laughing as a hand went to rub at the back of his head. "But Professor Droite's giving Yuma and Astral those remedial lessons since they got introduced late or something, so that's out. Next would be Yuma and Astral since I'm curious about their style, but again, remedial lessons." He made a displeased face then, upset that his new friend was missing out on all the fun. "Maybe..." Alit looked around, spotting a head of purple hair. "Oh, what about that guy?"

Gilag looked over in the direction Alit was looking in, and blinked. "Oh, the guy Lord Death brought in? I think his name's Ryoga. Wasn't he missin' from one of our classes earlier?" He watched from his higher vantage point as Ryoga spoke with two other students, a boy with gray hair and glasses, and a girl with long dark blue hair and light blue bangs.

"Yeah, you're right!" Alit realized, looking up at Gilag. "He wasn't in our Soul Studies class!" Alit had found that class boring too for the most part, it not being until they discussed out to fight and apprehend individuals with Kishin Egg souls, and how 99 of those souls and one witch's soul would make a weapon a Death Scythe. "I guess he skipped until lunch."

"I mean, I get that the lecture classes are no fun," Gilag muttered, "But you gotta still go to 'em. How else are ya gonna learn how to be a good fighter?"

"Maybe that means he'd be too easy to take down." Alit sighed, folding his arms. "That's no fun."

Before Gilag could respond, Gauche spoke. "Alright, we're here."

Alit and Gilag, as well as the other students, with the exception of Ryoga, looked around in awe at the combat training area, which was on top of the school, where a wooded, foresty area was. Gauche let his students spread out some as they checked out the combat area, most of the students finding a small clearing devoid of trees, outlining a rectangle lined with white chalk, which they all presumed was for one-on-one battles. A sharp whistle caught everyone's attention, however, Gauche having been the one to make it to get his students' attention. He'd also been by the field area, and his whistle drew in those who'd yet to find it. "Now that I've got your attention..." He began, folding his arms as he spoke. "Today we're going to focus on your bonds with your partners. Everyone find an area for yourself and your partners, and you're free to do as you please. If you just want to talk, that's fine. If you want to train up here, that's fine too. This time is yours to do as you want, so spend it wisely."

Blinking at Gauche's words, Alit huffed slightly, having been hoping to do some fighting. Though after a moment's thought, his eyes lit up in excitement. Time was theirs to do as they wanted, huh? Tugging at Gilag's sleeve, Alit grinned. "Wanna see if Professor Gauche will be our training partner?"

Gilag gave Alit a funny look, before realizing what he was getting at. "Oh, like we try to land a punch on him while he keeps dodgin', like in class earlier?"

Alit nodded. "Yeah! We just won't use your fire since we don't wanna risk setting the forest alight."

"Ok," Gilag nodded in return, "Let's go ask."

Making their way to Gauche, Alit took notice of the other students. Some were talking with their partners, like Gauche had suggested, and some were getting used to their new partners' weapon forms, Alit noticing a Meister with a spear taking practice jabs at area in front of him, another with a hammer that looked far too big for her though she swung it around with ease, and another with a scythe, his partner's upper half popping out of her weapon form as they high-fived each other. It brought a smile to Alit's face, seeing all the different varieties of weapons and partners.

As they approached Gauche, the tall man smirked shaking his head. "How did I know I'd be hearing from you two again?"

"We were just wonderin'," Gilag began, "if you wouldn't mind training with us?"

"Yeah!" Alit smiled brightly at the suggestion, looking to his professor. "We could try just landing a hit on you since we weren't able to in class!"

"Listen, as much as I'd love to school ya again," Gauche began, a sigh leaving him as he shook his head, "I can't. I gotta keep an eye on all of you, since it's just me and Droite isn't here. Sorry kid."

Alit's expression withered as Gauche spoke, but he understood. "Alright, I getcha." With a heavy sigh, Alit put his hands behind his head as he looked up and thought. "Well what are we gonna do now, Gilag?" There was no point in them talking with one another like most people were doing, because they already knew each other fairly well.

"You didn't hear this from me," Gauche said, leaning down somewhat and cupping a hand around one side of his mouth, lowering his voice to a whisper, "but I did say this time was yours to train if need be. I never said you had to train alone. If you manage to find another group of students to train with you, I'll allow it."

Gilag smirked at that, and Alit lit up once more. "Gotcha!" They both exclaimed, and turned tail to find some students who would fight with them.

* * *

"This is pathetic." Ryoga muttered, kicking a rock at his feet. "This is supposed to be Combat Training, not Social Butterfly class."

"What did you think, that they were just going to throw students at each other from the get go?" Rio asked, shaking her head. "People just got partnered up yesterday, you can't expect them to be as compatible as you and I are right from the start. We're siblings and it took us a while to get to where we worked together properly."

"Still." Came Ryoga's one word rebuttal, causing Rio to roll her eyes.

"Perhaps this time could be best spent training." Durbe suggested, "You might have fought with a sword before, but never a sword and shield. You might be able to lift me, but how well can you move on the battlefield with me in tow?"

"... You actually might be onto something, nerd." Ryoga murmured, looking down at his hands before looking up at Durbe. "Let's see."

While both were somewhat upset at Ryoga still referring to Durbe by 'nerd', Rio and Durbe ultimately nodded, and were quick to shift into their weapon forms, Durbe's shield strapped along his left arm, and Rio's sword in his right hand. Ryoga then took an offensive stance, imagining fighting an invisible enemy. In his mind's eye, he saw a a copy of himself, complete with sword and shield, lunging its sword at him. Taking a quick step back, foot grinding against the dirt, Ryoga raised his shield up, as if blocking the attack from the invisible enemy, and noted how slow he was to do so. Not that he was sluggish, but the heft of Durbe's shield seemed to outweigh his dexterity. He'd been so used to relying simply on Rio, that aside from yesterday, he'd never considered the weight of something, someone holding him down, holding him back.

And it irritated him.

With a growl, Ryoga stepped forward, slashing at his mental enemy with his sword, before quickly shifting stances and blocking with Durbe, again slow to the draw. There was something off about their soul wavelengths this time... Perhaps strengthening their soul wavelengths would reduce the weight of Durbe's weapon form?

Dropping out of his stance, Ryoga closed his eyes and lowered his arms, breathing slowly. How could he manage to strengthen his own soul wavelength to make up for the lack of synchronicity they had, in a short amount of time?

"Don't stop fightin' on our account."

At the deep voice, Ryoga's eyes snapped open, and he turned his head in the direction the voice came from. There, he spotted two familiar faces.

"I know you." Ryoga frowned and fully turned his body to face his visitors. "You're those two guys who fought the teachers."

"Yep!" The shorter of the two grinned happily, pointing a thumb to himself. "I'm Alit, and this is Gilag!"

"I don't care about pleasantries." Ryoga scoffed, turning back to face his imaginary enemy. "Leave me alone."

Gilag sighed and shook his head. "It's no use, c'mon Alit."

While Gilag began to turn and walk away, Alit stayed stubbornly put, arms folded, fingers drumming against an arm. "You're not gonna get very far fightin' the air, ya know."

Ryoga glared at Alit out of the corner of his eye. "What?"

"All I mean is," Alit continued, taking a step closer to Ryoga, "You'd be better off fighting a real person." At this, Gilag had stopped walking, and looked to Alit and Ryoga, turning to watch the interaction. "I can give you that, if you're up for it." Alit dropped his arms then, letting the back of his hands rest on his hips. "Of course, if you'd rather stay here with your partners and practice on a tree or keep attacking the air or something, I'll leave you be." Ryoga's blue eyes lit up at the mention of a fight, and seeing that he'd hooked his bait, Alit grinned brightly, emerald green eyes meeting ocean blue. "Whaddya say?"

"You're on."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Came Durbe's voice from the shield, sounding inquisitive. "We shouldn't be hopping into a fight if we aren't--"

"Whatever," Ryoga interrupted, causing Alit to frown somewhat. "We're ready to take these guys on. Besides, we've seen how they fight already. We're at an advantage."

"Believe what you want," Alit said, watching as Ryoga tightened the straps of Durbe's shield on his arm. "and follow me."

"Don't tell me what to do." Ryoga snapped, but followed Alit nonetheless, watching as he caught up with Gilag, the two partners sharing a fist bump. 

It was a short walk, Alit leading them to Gauche, who was watching over several students as they took the time to learn more about their partners. "Hey, Professor!"

Gauche turned at the sound of Alit's voice, and upon noticing Ryoga walking behind him with his partners already in weapon form, Gauche let out a hearty laugh. "You actually went and found someone! Gotta say, kid, you've got spunk."

"Spunk's a word." Gilag said, smirking at his partner, "So's stubbornness."

Ignoring Gilag's comment, Alit looked to Gauche, and spoke. "I learned from that zombie guy that a teacher has to be present for a fight on school grounds during classroom hours. So will you supervise us?"

Gauche let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "I said to train with someone, not start a fight."

"It's fine," Ryoga spoke up, causing all three males to look towards him. "A fight is training for me. I accept their challenge."

Gauche was silent for a moment, before exhaling through his nose, shaking his head slightly. "Kids these days... Alright, head to the combat training field, I'll be there shortly."

Alit pumped his fist in the air, then high-fived Gilag, before turning to face Ryoga once more. "C'mon! Let's go!" With that, Alit made a beeline towards the combat training field, Gilag not far behind him. Ryoga walked in the same direction, before looking down at his right hand, looking over Rio's sword. 

"You've been awfully quiet about this whole thing. You on board or what?"

There was silence from her still, before she broke it and spoke. "I agree with both you and Durbe. I don't think we're ready for a 1-on-1 fight yet, but at the same time, seeing how we do here will tell us how far we have to go." Her upper half of her body materialized from the blade of her sword, and she wagged a finger at Ryoga. "So don't hold back; go all out."

Ryoga scoffed. "Bold of you to assume I wouldn't give it my all."

Rio smirked at that, before returning to her full sword form, "Good."

As they reached the field, Alit was already on the far side of the field, bouncing on the balls on his feet, taking practice jabs at Gilag's outstretched hands. Ryoga rolled his eyes and made his way to the opposite side of the field, Gauche showing up shortly after that, followed by what looked to be the rest of the class. The other students surrounded the battlefield, and Ryoga huffed; This wasn't supposed to be a show, this was supposed to be training! 

"For a duel to take place on campus during classroom hours, there must be a teacher present, and both parties must consent to a fight." Gauche recited, then looking to Alit and Gilag. "You're wanting to challenge Ryoga and his partners?" Gilag and Alit both nodded, the latter of the two already unbuttoning and tossing down his red shirt. Gauche then turned to Ryoga. "Do you three accept his challenge?"

Ryoga nodded as well, and Rio openly said, "Yes." Though there was silence when it came to Durbe. Gauche arched a brow and looked at Durbe, Ryoga looking down at his partner as well. "Well?"

"... Very well, I also accept." Came Durbe's unsure voice.

Gauche nodded, and stuck out an arm in front of himself, looking back and forth from Ryoga to Alit and Gilag, before speaking. "Alright then, commence the duel!"

"Alright!" Alit raised his right fist, and Gilag was quick to transform into his weapon form, a gray boxing glove appearing on Alit's fist. 

Ryoga took an offensive stance, but before he could make a move, Alit was rushing him, quickly making his way from one side of the field to the other at a dizzying speed. Ryoga was startled for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. _He's gonna start with a feint,_ Ryoga thought, remembering how Alit's fight with Gauche started out. He watched as Alit reared his right arm back, and, fully expecting him to feint, moved to the right, only to be punched in the face by a powerful right hook and knocked backwards. 

"Ryoga!" 

Dual cries came from his partners, Ryoga wincing as he felt blood trickle out of his nose. "He didn't--" Ryoga began, looking up at Alit somewhat bewildered.

"Didn't what?" Alit asked with a grin, putting his left hand on his hip. "Didn't feint?" Extending a hand to help Ryoga up, Alit continued speaking. "Of course I didn't, it's what you would have expected. After all, you're the one who thought you had an advantage just because you saw me fight once. You think I'm gonna fight the exact same way every time, especially when an opponent is expecting one thing?"

Growling, Ryoga used Durbe's shield to bat away Alit's hand, and lunged upward with Rio's sword, Alit's eyes widening as he barely dodged in time, jumping backwards to gain a bit of distance. Ryoga took this time to get up, using the back of his right hand to wipe away at the blood on his face. "Dammit..."

Grinning, Alit rushed Ryoga again, though this time Ryoga used Durbe's shield to block incoming punches, Alit seething as his bare left fist came into powerful contact with the metal of Durbe's shield. Gritting his teeth, Alit changed tactics, and focused on his right fist, it beginning to change color and darken red with each jab it took. 

With only one fist to worry about, Ryoga was able to more easily block Alit's punches using Durbe, but even then, he couldn't find an opening to attack. He was starting to get hot, Gilag beginning to heat up with each jab Alit made.

"We've got a problem!" Came Durbe's voice, it sounding like he was strained, and panting somewhat. "I'm a metal shield! He's heating me up with each attack I take!"

Ryoga scowled, knowing that meant Durbe would overheat, and would soon burn Ryoga, since he was attached to his Meister's left arm. "Well then, I'll just have to do this!" At his words, Ryoga gave an energetic push of Durbe's shield as Alit jabbed at him, the action causing Alit to lose his footing somewhat and stagger backwards. Ryoga took the free moment to grab the handle of Rio's shortsword with both hands, and thrust her into the ground, a wall of ice appearing from the ground up in front of him.

Alit gasped and jumped backwards, using his arms to make an 'x' shape to block the sudden force of cold air that came with the wall. Now _this_ he hadn't expected. Ryoga's sword partner had ice properties like Gilag had fire? Interesting.

"Clever, but you do realize fire melts ice, right?" Alit said, before running to the wall and rearing back his right arm, hitting the wall with a powerful punch, that resulted in Gilag erupting into flames, licking away at the ice. A hiss of steam resulted from the impact, sending chills down the spines of the onlookers, Gauche watching the fight closely. 

"Crap," Ryoga muttered, "We've gotta act fast." With that, he pulled Rio's sword out of the ground with his right hand, and dragged the tip of her blade along the ground in a short line in front of him, causing a small wall of ice to appear. He then put Durbe's shield up to this second, smaller ice wall, Durbe sighing in relief as his metal was cooled down from the contact of ice to heated metal. The entire time this was happening, however, Alit had been punching away at the bigger wall of ice, repeated _'thud'_ after _'thud'_ sounding against the wall, until he punched a hole in the wall, the ice dripping away as Alit looked through the hole he made. 

"Found ya." With that, he reared his fist back, and punched upwards against the wall, ice shattering and falling down onto the ground beneath him, melting into water.

"Ryoga, his glove!" Rio pointed out, causing Ryoga to look at said glove, which was considerably lighter in color than it was before.

"The ice must have cooled him off." Durbe said, "Like it did with me."

"Alright then," Ryoga murmured, "I got a plan." With that, he lifted Durbe's shield and rushed Alit, running at him full force, though with the added weight of Durbe, he was running a bit slower than he'd anticipated. Luckily for him, Alit followed suit, rushing Ryoga head on, the gloved fist that was Gilag smashing into Durbe. Ryoga's eyes lit up as there was a moment where Alit's guard was down after a punch, since he wasn't punching with his left hand, and Ryoga quickly dragged Rio's blade through the ground in a curved line, a wall of ice curving around and blocking Alit's right side from him, leaving only his left exposed. "There!" At his cry, Ryoga moved his right arm, aiming to thrust Rio's blade into Alit's left shoulder--

"That's enough!"

Both Meisters stopped in their tracks, looking over at Gauche, who'd been the one to yell out.

"As a teacher, I declare this match over." Gauche stepped onto the battlefield, placing his hands on one of each boys' shoulders. "You kids have got potential, but you're both obviously lacking in some areas."

"Potential?" Alit asked happily, as opposed to Ryoga who frowned and asked, "Lacking?"

At this, Durbe, Rio, and Gilag all returned to their regular forms, standing by their respective partners. Gauche looked at all five students and spoke. "The key to any battle is communication with your partner," he said, looking at Ryoga, "and being able to know what to do when in a bind." he continued, looking at Alit.

Looking back at Ryoga, Gauche folded his arms, and resumed speaking. "You aren't observant of your partners' states while in battle, and you don't communicate well with them. Durbe had to warn you about the danger of him overheating, which would have resulted in him burning you if you hadn't acted on it. Even then, you don't speak to them unless you're spoken to first. You need to be more proactive in engaging in communication with your partners. You need to work especially hard at that, seeing as you have two partners."

Now turning to Alit, Gauche looked him over once, before looking to Gilag. "Do you know any long range attacks?"

Gilag shook his head. "No sir, I don't."

Gauche shook his head. "You two need to work on that. You only got one hit in on Ryoga, and that's only because you correctly predicted what he'd do based on seeing you fight once before. But honestly? If I had let that duel go on, you would have been at a disadvantage the remainder of it, because Ryoga and his partners adapted, using a mix of short range and long range attacks when they realized simply short range wouldn't work well." He looked at Alit then. "You can't just rush head first into every battle. You gotta stop, think, and process what's goin' on in a quick enough manner that you form a strategy on the fly." With a sigh, Gauche dropped his arms, raising one hand to scratch at his head. "Man, I wish Droite was here, she's better at explaining this stuff than I am."

"It's alright, Professor Gauche," Alit smiled, leaning down to pick up his shirt discarded from earlier, "I get it." He looked to Gilag then, a mischievous grin tugging at his lips. "We should try working on long range attacks! Think you could shoot fire out of your glove? Like in the shape of a fist?!"

"Ah, no." Gilag was quick to shoot Alit's suggestion down. "...Well, not in the shape of a fist, at least."

"Speaking of fists," Gauche spoke up again, looking at Alit. "We need to fit you up with a second boxing glove."

Alit blinked. "What, like a second partner?"

Shaking his head, Gauche explained what he meant. "No, just something to protect your left fist from hazards that would hinder you to only punching with one fist, like what happened moments ago."

By this point, the rest of the class was murmuring and clamoring, some students raising their hands to see if they too could spar with other students. Gauche moved to address them, leaving Ryoga, Durbe, Rio, Alit, and Gilag alone.

"Well, that was fun!" Alit said, extending a hand. "Maybe we could spar again, sometime?"

Ryoga scoffed, and was intent on swatting Alit's hand away, when Rio moved quicker than he could, shaking Alit's hand. "I think that's be great." She replied, turning her head to glare at her brother while shaking Alit's hand. "Right, Ryoga?" Her tone was threatening, and again, Ryoga scoffed.

"Yeah, fine, whatever."

Durbe moved to shake Alit's hand next, and spoke. "Thank you for the learning experience."

Gilag moved then, giving Durbe's back a strong pat, one forceful enough to make Durbe have to readjust his glasses. "No need ta be all formal, we're all friends here, ain't we?"

"Speaking of friends..." Rio began, leading the group of five off of the battlefield so that other students could make their way on there and Gauche could monitor their duels, "You were talking with _Yuma_ at lunch today, weren't you?"

At the mention of Yuma, Ryoga perked up, his gaze narrowing onto Alit and Gilag.

"Oh, yeah!" Gilag said, nodding. "He's a pretty alright guy. Dunno about his partner, though, since he skipped out on lunch."

"Yeah, no one was sitting with him, so we did!" Alit continued, "Gilag's right though, he seems like a great guy."

"Yeah, 'great'." Ryoga huffed rolling his eyes. He then began walking away from the group, prompting Rio to put her hands on her hips.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked, a bit huffy herself.

"Like I said earlier," Ryoga said without looking back, "this is Combat Training, not Social Butterfly class. I have better things to do than stand around and talk." With that, he walked deeper into the forest, until he was gone from sight. 

"Geez, what a guy." Gilag muttered somewhat in disbelief. "Is he always like that?"

Durbe stayed quiet at that, not knowing what to say, whereas Rio simply waved a hand dismissively. "He's just annoyed is all. Ignore him for now."

Alit smiled though, chuckling somewhat as he buttoned his shirt back on. "He's interesting, that's for sure." He then pulled a phone out of his pocket, looking at Rio and Durbe excitedly. "You guys wanna exchange numbers? Maybe we can help each other train or something, or maybe study together for exams and stuff."

Rio smiled gently, nodding in response. "Sure, Alit." Pulling her own phone out of her skirt's pocket, she exchanged information with Alit and Gilag, Durbe soon following suit. 

Giving their thanks, Alit and Gilag were quick to excuse themselves, saying that they wanted to try and practice making a long range attack while there was still class time left, and bid Durbe and Rio goodbye, walking into the forest as well. When they too were out of sight, Durbe spoke. "You sure were quick to get their numbers, Rio."

"Of course," She said simply, putting her phone away, "Ryoga might not realize this, but if we get to know them better, we get to know Yuma better, which means we might get in Lord Death's good graces and get to know him better too." She smiled at Durbe then, a mischievous grin on her lips. "And if we can manage that, we'll be getting high ranks and better missions in no time."

Durbe laughed then, a smile on his face as he shook his head. "You're incorrigible, Rio."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally this chapter was gonna include some Yuma and Astral content, but Alit and Ryoga took up more content than I thought they would. _4,500 words jfc_


End file.
